Section 4 in Tamil Nadu Gramdan Villages (Repayment of Debts) Act, 1959
4. Payment of debt in instalments.
(1)Notwithstanding anything to the contrary contained in any law, custom, contract or decree of Courts, any Gramdan villager shall be entitled to pay the total amount of debt due by him in three equal annual instalments on or before the 1st July of each of the three years following the expiry of the period specified in sub-section (1) of section 3 with the interest due on such instalment up to the date of the payment of that instalment.(2)Where in respect of a decree for debt passed before the date of the commencement of this Act, a debtor fails to make any one of the payments specified in sub-section (1), the decree-holder shall be entitled to execute the decree in respect of the instalment which is in default.(3)In any suit instituted on or after the date of the commencement of this Act, the Court in decreeing the suit shall provide for the payment of such instalments as would have become due under the provisions of sub-section (1).(4)Where in any suit for the recovery of a debt pending on the date of the commencement of this Act, the debtor claims to be a Gramdan villager, the Court shall, if the debtor is a Gramdan villager, pass a decree for payment of such instalments as would become payable under the provisions of sub-section (1).(5)Nothing contained in this Act shall bar the Court from passing a decree or making an order in an application for execution of the decree under such terms and conditions as may be more favourable to the debtor than those provided for in this section either of its own motion upon, a consideration of all the circumstances of the case, or upon an agreement between the parties.(6)Where in any suit to recover a debt or in any application for the execution of a decree therefor, the debt is payable by a Gramdan villager jointly or jointly and severally with any other person, the Court shall pass a decree or make an order for the payment of the debt found due from the Gramdan villager as provided in this section as against the Gramdan villager and make such provision in the decree or order against such other person as the circumstances of the case may warrant.(7)The provisions of sub-section (1) shall, for purposes of execution, be deemed to be a subsequent order of Court within the meaning of clause (b) of sub-section (1) of section 48 of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 (Central Act V of 1908).
