- In this Act unless there is anything repugnant in the subject or context-(1)"Agriculture" includes horticulture ;The terms 'Agriculture' and 'cultivation' when used with reference to a holding, do not include the cultivation of tea.(2)"Agricultural year" means the year commencing on the 1st day of Baisakh of the Bengali year ;(3)"Commissioner" means the Commissioner of the Assam Valley Division ;(4)"Deputy Commissioner" in any provision of this Act, means the Deputy Commissioner in-charge of Goalpara district and includes any Revenue Officer, Assistant Commissioner or Extra Assistant Commissioner specially empowered by the Local Government to discharge any of the functions of the Deputy Commissioner under that provision;(5)"Enhancement" and "Enhanced" do not include an increase of rent in respect of land held by a tenant in excess of the area for which rent has been previously paid by him ;(6)"Estate" means lands included under one entry in any of the general registers of revenue paying and revenue-free lands prepared and maintained, under the law for the time being in force by the Deputy Commissioner, and includes Government khas mahals and revenue-free lands not entered in any register ;(7)"Holding" means a parcel or parcels of land held by a tenant, other than a permanent tenure-holder, and forming the subject of a separate engagement with the landlord ;(8)(1) "improvement", with reference to a holding means any work which adds materially to the letting value of the holding and is consistent with the purpose for which it was let and which, if not executed on the building, is either executed for its benefit or is after the execution made directly beneficial to it :Provided that any work which materially diminishes the value of the landlord's other property shall not be deemed to be an improvement.(2)Until the contrary is shown, the following shall be presumed to be improvements within the meaning of the section,-(a)the construction of wells, whether masonry or not, tanks, water channels and other works for the storage, supply or distribution of water for the purposes of agriculture or for the use of men and cattle so employed or for providing drinking water for the tenant;(b)the preparation of land for irrigation ;(c)the drainage, reclamation from rivers or other waters, or protection from flood, or from erosion or other damage by water, of land used for agricultural purposes or waste land which is culturable ;(d)the reclamation, clearance, enclosure or permanent improvement of land and agricultural purposes ;(e)the erection of a dwelling house whether of masonry, bricks, stone or any other material whatsoever, for the tenant and his family together with all necessary out-offices ;(f)the renewal or reconstruction of any of the foregoing works or alterations therein of additions thereto ;(9)"Jote" means the holding of a jotedar ;(10)"Land" means land which is let out or occupied for agricultural purposes or purposes subservient thereto,and includes the sites of buildings appurtenant to such land ;(11)"Landlord" means a person immediately under whom a tenant holds land, and includes the Government;(12)"Pay", "Payable" and "Payment" used with reference to rent include 'deliver', 'deliverable', and 'delivery';(13)"Permanent settlement" means the permanent settlement of Bengal and portions of Assam made in or about the year 1973, and hereinafter referred to as "the permanent settlement" ;(14)"Prescribed" means prescribed by rules made by the Local Government under this Act;(15)"Proprietor" means a person owning in trust or for his own benefit any estate or part of an estate ;(16)"Registered" means registered under the Act for the time being in force for the registration of documents ;(17)"Rent" means whatever is lawfully payable in money or kind by a tenant on account of the use and occupation of the land held by the tenant, and shall include the share of crop deliverable by a tenant:Provided that where Government is a landlord, rent shall be paid in cash and not in kind."Share of crop" shall mean the share of the principal crop grown in each agricultural year and will be determined by mutal agreement between the landlord and the tenant, subject to the maximum of one-fifth of the produce of principal crop grown in each agricultural year, but shall not exceed fair rent:Provided that landlord's share shall not exceed fair rent.(18)"Revenue Officer" in any provision of this Act, includes any officer whom the Local Government may appointment by name or by virtue of his office to discharge any of the functions of a Revenue Officer under that provision ;(19)"Succession" includes both intestate and testamentary succession";(20)"Tenant" means a person who holds land under another person, and is, or but for a special contract would be, liable to pay rent for that land to that person and includes person who, under the system generally known as "adhi" (whether Guchiadhi or Gutiadhi), 'barga', 'bhag', 'chukti' or 'chukani', cultivates the land the another person on condition of delivering a share or quantity of the produce of such land to that person but does not include-(a)an ijaradar , that is to say, a person who is primarily farmer of rents; and(b)a person holding land on condition of rendering service :Provided that the labourers employed for personal cultivation shall not be deemed to be tenant within the meaning of this clause.Explanation.-A person who is otherwise a tenant shall not by reason of his holding land under any person referred to in sub-Clause (a) or (b), lose his right as such.(21)"Village" means the area defined, surveyed and recorded, in any survey made by or under the authority of the Government, as a distinct and separate village, and adopted as such by the Local Government for the purposes of this Act by a notification made in this behalf in the Assam Gazette :Provided that, when an order has been made under Section 97 directing that a survey be made and a record-of rights prepared in respect of any local area estate, permanent tenure, jote or part thereof, the Local Government may, by notification in the Assam Gazette, declare that, in such local areas, estate, permanent tenure, jote or part thereof, "village" shall mean the area which for the purposes of such survey and record-of right, may be adopted by the Revenue Officer with the sanction of the Commissioner accorded under Section 119, as the unit of survey and record ;(22)"Principal crop" shall be only one crop for each agricultural year as may be agreed upon mutually between the landlord and the tenant;Provided that where there is no agreement, the principal crop shall be only one agricultural crop grown in each agricultural year in the local area specified as follows:In the district of Goalpara-Sali or such local name generally used in respect of paddy known as winter paddy, the harvesting of which is done in the months of December, January and February corresponding to Pausa, Magha and Phalguna.(23)"Money rent" in relation to rent payable in crop share for purpose of deposit into court and/or calculation of arrear of rent is the money value of the crop deliverable by a tenant to landlord and such money value shall be computed on the basis of the market value of that crop prevailing at the time of harvesting in the locality concerned.(24)"Personal cultivation" means cultivation by the person himself, or by members of his family or by his hired labourers on fixed remuneration payable in cash or kind but not in crop share, under personal supervision of the person himself or any member of his family ; provided it is accompanied by the bearing of risks of cultivation by the owner and by residence in the village in which the land is situated or nearby village within a distance of 5 miles during the greater part of the agricultural season :Provided that in the case of a person who is a widow or minor, or is subject to any physical or mental disability or is a member of the Defence Forces of the Indian Union or is a student below the age of 21 years of an educational institution recognised by the State Government the land shall be deemed under personal cultivation even in the absence of such personal supervision.(25)"Fair rent" in relation to rent payable in crop share, means the rate of rent not exceeding one-fifth of the produce of the principal crop grown in each agricultural year :Provided that where the crop fails due to natural calamities and the payment of crop share is not possible due to circumstances beyond the control of the tenant, a sum equal to double the annual land revenue or rent payable by his immediate landlord for such holding shall be fair rent.
