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FAX MESSAGE

TOP PRIORITY PERSONAL ATTENTION

FROM: SPECIAL CHIEF SECRETARY & CHIEF COMMISSIONER OF LAND

ADMINISTRATION, A.P., HYDERABAD.

TO : ALL THE DISTRICT COLLECTORS IN THE STATE, EXCEPT HYDERABAD.

CCLAS MSG.NO.LRC.VI/771/2009, DATED: 25.1.2011.

__________________________________________________________________
_

IN CONTINUATION OF THIS OFFICE FAX MESSAGE NO.

LRC.VI/771/2009, DATED 24TH JAN, 2011, THE DRAFT BILL IN ENGLISH &
TELUGU IS NOW SENT HEREWITH FOR TAKING FURTHER ACTION AS
INSTRUCTED ALREADY (.)

PLEASE SEND YOUR CONSOLIDATED REPORT, IN THREE PARTS VIZ.,

(1) SUGGESTIONS RELATED TO THE PROVISIONS OF THE ACT (2)
SUGGESTIONS RELATED TO BANK LOANING AND (3) SUGGESTIONS
RELATED TO OTHER BENEFITS, WITH YOUR CONSIDERED VIEWS THERE ON
BY 11.00 A.M ON 30TH JAN, 2011 THROUGH FAX/E-MAIL/SPL.MESSENGER,
WITHOUT FAIL (.)

Sd/- PARVATHI SUBRAMANIAN,

for SPL.CHIEF SECRETARY & CHIEF
COMMISSIONER OF LAND ADMINISTRATION.

COPY TO THE PRINCIPAL SECRETARY TO THE GOVT., REVENUE

(LAND REFORMS) DEPT., A.P., HYDERABAD.
COPY TO O.S.D. TO HONBLE REVENUE MINISTER, A.P.,
HYDERABAD FOR FAVOUR OF INFORMATION.
_______________________________________________________________
POST COPY IN CONFIRMATION TO ALL THE COLLECTORS IN THE STATE
(EXCEPT HYDERABAD)
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DRAFT BILL ON ANDHRA PRADESH LOAN AND ALLIED

BENEFITS ELIGIBILITY CARD (PERMITTED CULTIVATORS) ACT,
2011.

STATEMENT OF OBJECTS AND REASONS

As agriculture has not proved remunerative in recent times,

many of the land holders discontinuing agricultural operations and
seeking employment in Public and Private Sectors or pursuing other
professions. The lands are being given for cultivation to peasants who
do not have any potential to seek other avocations. This segment of
permitted cultivators do not have any record of their actual cultivation of
lands in any of the Revenue registers as the land holders do not give
consent for recording such cultivation for various reasons. Hence,
they are deprived of access to credit from Banks, protection of
insurance etc. The net effect is that such permitted cultivator takes
recourse to private money lenders for loans at exorbitant rate of
interest and thus are being driven into a debt trap, at times leading to
suicides.

Such situation of permitted enjoyment of this farming community

is causing distress among them and is a matter of concern to the Govt.
In order to avoid economic distress and to ameliorate the socio-
economic condition it is necessary to provide economic support to that
community to prevent such suicidal deaths of peasants i.e., permitted
cultivators.

Article 39(b) of Constitution of India enjoins and obligates the

State to take appropriate steps to see that the national resources are
so distributed to sub serve the interest of all citizens of the country.

Therefore, the Government of Andhra Pradesh constituted

Koneru Ranga Rao Committee to go in to details of problems relating
to land, and the farming community particularly the permitted
occupants/ tenants, and the Committee in its report, recommended
issue of Loan Eligibility Cards to enable them to access credit and
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other benefits from financial institutions and Government Agencies.

The Government of Andhra Pradesh had accepted the same in the
year 2007. As such despite the law of tenancy and other provisions in
revenue laws in force, for the last (5) decades due to strong
apprehension of land owners that their right in land will be jeopardized,
if their bilateral agreement of permitted possession is recorded in the
revenue records, the names of occupants were not recorded. The
official mechanism also could not record the same in the absence of
oral/written consent of land owner to record in favour of permitted
possessors.

Therefore, it is necessary to address this area of recording the

right in crop, without any adverse effect to rights of land owner, in
respect of permitted cultivator of land of various categories.

Accordingly Government have decided to undertake a specific

legislation with the following salient features;-
(1) To provide Loan Eligibility Cards for farmers in permitted
cultivation of land.
(2) To provide farmers access to public financial institutions for
loan, crop claim insurance, input subsidy etc.
(3) To claim damages to crop.
(4) To infuse confidence in permitted enjoyment farming community
and to prevent suicides.
(5) To safe guard the rights of the land owners/pattadar of the land
which was given for permitted cultivation.

This Bill seeks to give effect to the above decision.

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A BILL TO PROVIDE LOAN AND ALLIED BENEFITS ELIGIBILITY

CARD TO THE FARMERS, WHO RAISE CROPS WITH EXPRESS/
IMPLIED PERMISSION OF OWNER/PATTADAR OF LAND, BUT
HAVE NO RECORD FOR SUCH FARM ENJOYMENT, WITHOUT
AFFECTING THE RIGHTS OF OWNERS, ENABLING THEM TO
ACCESS CREDIT FROM THE PUBLIC FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS
AND TO CLAIM BENEFITS OF INPUT SUBSIDY, CROP
INSURANCE, COMPENSATION FOR DAMAGES TO CROP AND
FOR MATTERS CONNECTED THEREWITH AND INCIDENTAL
THERETO.

Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of Andhra Pradesh in the

Sixty-first Year of the Republic of India as follows:

Short title, extent 1. (1) This Act may be called the Andhra Pradesh Loan and Allied
and commencement.
Benefits Eligibility Card (Permitted Cultivators) Act, 2011.
(2) It extends to the whole of the State of Andhra Pradesh.
(3) It shall come into force on such date as the State Government
may by notification appoint.

Definitions. 2. In this Act unless the context otherwise requires;-

(1) Agricultural Land means land which is used or is capable of
being used for the purpose of agriculture crop, other than
Government Land or Land assigned by the Government to the
poor for raising agricultural crops;
(2) Year means the year commencing on the 1st day of May
and ending on 30th April of subsequent year.
(3) Crop includes;-
(i) All crops of food Grains, Pulses, Oil seeds, vegetables, Jute,
Cotton, Chillies, Sugarcane, Tobacco, grass or garden;
(ii) Horticulture and Spices
(iii) Mulberry Cultivation.
(4) Member of the family means Spouse, Sons, Daughters and
Parents
(4) Permitted cultivator of land means and includes the farmers
who cultivate the land of others with express or implied
permission, either on payment of rent or any other means of
consideration for one year or until the duration of crop which ever
is later without exclusive possession, and whose names are not
recorded in any of the revenue registers concerned to that
particular land.
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Provided that the permitted cultivator shall not be a member

of the family of the owner/pattedar of the land concerned.
(5) Prescribed means prescribed by rules made by the
Government under this Act.
(6) Revenue Officer means Deputy Tahsildar, Mandal Revenue
Inspector and Village Revenue Officer as may be specified.
The words/phrases which are not defined in this Act shall
have same meaning as provided in Andhra Pradesh Record of
Rights in Land and Pattadar Pass Book Act,1971.

3. (1) On and from the date of commencement of the Act, every

Issue of Loan
permitted cultivator shall be entitled to enter his name in the
Eligibility Card.
register of loan and allied benefits card holders, in respect of
concerned land, maintained for such period and in such manner
as may be prescribed.
(2) On such entry in the records, every permitted cultivator shall
be entitled for a Loan and Allied Benefits Eligibility Card, to be
issued by the Revenue Officer.
(3) The Loan and Allied Benefits Eligibility Card issued to a
permitted cultivator shall create only a right on the crop raised
therein and no rights whatsoever shall accrue on the land.
(4) The permitted cultivator may be entitled to secure crop loan
from any Public Financial Institution, crop insurance, input
subsidy in his name, and other claims of damage to the crop
raised over the said land on the production of the Loan and Allied
Benefits Eligibility Card, subject to the norms governing these
benefits, but it does not create or confer any right of possession,
tenancy or interest of whatsoever nature over the land under the
permitted cultivation.

Provided that the farmers who had occupancy right in land

either under the Tenancy Laws or under the Andhra Pradesh
Rights in Land and Pattadar Pass Book Act, 1971, or other
revenue laws and got their names recorded are excluded from
the benefit under this Act:

(5) The permitted cultivators whose names are entered in the

said record, specified in this section are entitled to possess a
Loan and Allied Benefits Eligibility Card ordinarily for the
concerned year only but it may be for a further period depending
on the duration of the crop raised with the explicit or implicit
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permission of the owner of the land, enabling them to get benefits

specified in the said card.
Explanation:- The Public Financial Institutions may sanction crop
loan on production of Loan and Allied Benefits Eligibility Card
only without insisting the production of any revenue record.
(6) The Loan and Allied Benefits Eligibility Card, issued shall
ordinarily be valid for one year but it may be issued for longer
period where long duration crops are taken up.
(7) The Revenue Officer shall furnish the list of card holders
prepared in sub-section (1) to the Bankers in advance for
sanctioning Crop Loan.
(8) The Owner/Pattadar of land in spite of the land given
on permitted cultivation is entitled to get loans, other than the
crop loan, from Public Financial Institutions on security of said
Land.

Applicability 4. In the Scheduled Areas of the State, this Act shall apply to
permitted cultivators who belong to local Scheduled Tribes only
as per the provisions of the Andhra Pradesh Scheduled Areas
Land Transfer Regulation, 1959.

5. Any person aggrieved by the decision of the Revenue Officer, in

Appeal
matters concerned to Loan and Allied Benefits Eligibility Card
may prefer an appeal to Tahsildar of the Revenue Mandal
within seven (7) days in the prescribed manner and the
appellate authority shall dispose the appeal by summary
enquiry within fifteen (15) days and its decision shall be final.

Dispute Resolution 6. Any dispute between the land owner and permitted cultivator
Mechanism
shall be resolved by Mandal level Dispute Resolution
Committee to be constituted as per the procedure to be
prescribed.

Nodal Agency
7. The Chief Commissioner of Land Administration shall be the
Nodal Agency for this Act and the Agency may from time to time
issue such orders and instructions as may be necessary to
implement the provisions of the Act and Rules made there
under and to achieve the object of the Act.

Protection of 8. No suit, prosecution or other legal proceeding shall lie against

persons acting in
any officer of the Government for anything which is in good faith
good faith
done or intended to be done under this Act or the rules made
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thereunder

Act to override other 9. The provisions of this Act, shall have effect notwithstanding
Laws
anything to the contrary contained in any other law for the time
being in force, except the Andhra Pradesh Scheduled Areas
Land Transfer Regulation, 1959.

Bar of Jurisdiction of 10. No decision made or order passed or proceeding taken by any
Civil Courts
Officer or Authority or the State Government under this Act,
shall be called in question before a Civil Court in any suit,
application or other proceeding and no injunction shall be
granted by any Court in respect of any proceeding taken or
about to be taken by such Officer or Authority or State
Government in presence of any power conferred by or under
this Act.

Power to remove 11. If any doubt or difficulty arises in giving effect to the provisions
difficulty.
of this Act, the Government may, within a period of three years
from the commencement of this Act, by order published in the
Gazette, make such provision as appears to it to be necessary
or expedient for removing the difficulty.

Power to make rules. 12.
(1) The Government may, by notification, make rules for
carrying out all or any of the purposes of this Act.
(2) Every rule made under this Act shall, immediately after it is
made, be laid before the Legislature of the State, if it is in
session and if it is not in session, in the session immediately
following for a total period of fourteen days which may be
comprised in one session or in two successive sessions and if,
before the expiration of the session in which it is so laid or the
session immediately following the Legislature of the state
agrees in making any modification in the rule or in the
annulment of the rule, the rule shall, from the date on which the
modification or annulment is notified, have effect only in such
modified form or shall stand annulled as the case may be, so
however, that any such modification or annulment shall be
without prejudice to the validity of anything previously done
under that rule.