20. Exemption of portion of holding from attachment or sale in execution of a decree.
(1)Notwithstanding anything to the contrary contained in any other law or in anything having the force of law, where a decree is passed before or after the commencement of this Act for the payment by an agricultural debtor of the amount due on any loan advanced to him by a money-lender, the Court executing the decree:(i)shall exempt from sale one acre of the land comprised in the holding or holdings of the Judgement debtor, if the area of such land does not exceed three acres;(ii)shall exempt one acre, and may exempt any further portion of such land if the area of such land exceeds three acres; provided that the total area exempted from sale does not exceed one third of the total area of such land; and(iii)shall not pass decree for the payment of the amount due on account of any loan advanced to the agricultural debtor, on homestead and up to one acre of homestead land of the debtor.(2)For the purposes of this Section "agricultural debtor" means a raiyat, the total area of whose holdings does not exceed such area as the State Government may fix for the district in which such holding or holdings are situated.
