- In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires -(1)"approved bank" means a bank approved by' the State Government for the purposes of' this Act ;(2)"chit" means a " transaction, whether called chit fund, chit, kuri, or by any other name, by which its foreman enters. Into an agreement with a number of subscribers that everyone of them shall subscribe a certain sum or a certain quantity of grain or of any other goods by periodical installments for a number of specified periods equal to the number of subscribers and that each subscriber at some of. them in his or their turn as determined by lot or by auction or by tender or in such other manner, as may be provided for in the agreement, shall be entitled to a prize amount ;Explanation. - A transaction is not a chit within the meaning of this, clause if in such transaction -(a)some alone, but not all, of the subscribers get the prize amount without any liability to pay future subscriptions , or(b)all the subscribers get the whole of the chit amount by turns with a liability to pay future subscriptions :Illustration. - There are 100 subscribers to a chit and the subscription by each of them is Rs. 10. All the subscribers get by turns Rs. 1,000 being the whole of the chit amount and are liable to pay future subscriptions. The transaction falls within clause (b) at the above Explanation and is not a chit;(3)"chit agreement" means a document containing the articles of agreement between the foreman and the subscribers relating to the chit;(4)"chit amount" means the sum total of the subscriptions payable by all the subscribers for any installment of a chit without any deduction for discount or otherwise ;(5)"defaulting subscriber" means a subscriber who has defaulted in the payment of subscriptions due according to the terms of the chit agreement;(6)"discount" means the sum or the quantity of grain, or of other goods, as the case may be, which a prized subscriber is required under the terms of the chit agreement to fore go and which set apart under the said agreement to meet the expenses of running the chit or for distribution among the subscribers or for both ;(7)"dividend" means the share of a subscriber in the discount available Under the chit agreement for rateable, distribution among the subscribers at any installment of the chit;(8)"draw" with its grammatical variations, means ascertaining of the person or persons entitled to the prize amount at any installment of a chit ;(9)"firm" means a firm' registered under the Indian Partnership Act, 1932;(10)"foreman" means the person (including a firm) who under the chit agreement is responsible for the conduct of the chit, and includes any other person discharging the functions of the foreman on continuation of the chit in, circumstances mentioned in section 32 ;(11)"non-prized subscriber" does not include a subscriber who has defaulted in the payment of subscriptions due according to the terms of the' chit agreement ;(12)"prescribed" means prescribed by rules made under this Act ;(13)"prescribed authority" means the Sub-Divisional Magistrates (Executive) within their respective jurisdiction ;(14)"prize amount" means the difference between the chit amount and the discount, and, in the case of a fraction of a ticket, means the difference between the chit amount and the discount proportionate to the fraction of the ticket, and where the prize amount is payable otherwise than in cash the value of the prize amount shall be the value at the time it becomes payable ;(15)"prized subscribers" means a subscriber who has either received or is entitled to the prize amount;(16)"Registrar" means a Registrar appointed. under section 53, and includes any Additional, Joint, Deputy or Assistant Registrar appointed under that section and authorized by him to perform all or any of his functions under this Act ;(17)"subscriber" includes a person who holds a fraction of a ticket and also a transferee of a ticket or a fraction thereof by assignment in writing or by operation of law;(18)"ticket" means the share of a subscriber in a chit.
