THE LAND IMPROVEMENT LOANS ACT, 1883.
(Act No. XIX of 1883)

CONTENTS.

SECTIONS.

1.   Short title.

Local extent and Commencement.

2.   Act XXVI of 1871 and XX( of (876  repeated.
3. "Collector" defined.
4.   Purposes for which loans may be granted under this Act.
5.   Mode of dealing with applications for loans.
6.   Period for repayment of loans.
7.   Recovery of loans.
8.   Order granting loan conclusive on certain points.
9.   Liability of joint borrowers as among   themselves.
10. Power   to   make   rules.
11. Exemption of improvements from assessment to land-revenue.
12. Certain powers of Provincial Government to be exercisable by Board of Revenue or Financial Commissioner.

THE LAND IMPROVEMENT LOANS ACT, 1883
[1](Act No. XIXof 1883)

[12th October, 1883]

AN

ACT

to consolidate and amend the law relating to loans of money
 by  the  Government for agricultural improvements.

(2) When in any Act, Regulation or Notification passed or issued before this Act comes into force, reference is made to either of those Acts, reference shall, so far as may be practicable, be read as apply­ing to this Act or the corresponding part of this Act.

(2) "Improvement" means any work which adds to the letting value of land, and includes the following, namely:—

(a)  the construction of wells, tanks and other works for the storage, supply or distribution of water for the purposes of agriculture, or for the use of men and cattle employed in agriculture;

(b)   the preparation of land for irrigation;

(c)the drainage, reclamation from rivers or other waters, or protection from floods or from erosion or other damage by water, of land used for agricultural purposes or waste­land which is cultivable;

(d) the reclamation, clearance, enclosure or permanent, improvement of land for agricultural purposes:

(e)   the renewal or reconstruction of any of the foregoing works, or alterations therein or additions thereto; and

(f)  such other works as the[10][Board of Revenue] [11][* * *] may, from time to time, by notification in the [12][Official Gazette], declare to be improvements for the purposes of this Act.

            
            (2) The Officer shall consider every objection submitted under sub-section (1), and make an order in writing either admitting or overruling it:

            Provided that, when the question raised by an objection is, in the opinion of the officer, one of such a nature that it cannot be satisfactorily decided except by a Civil Court, he shall postpone his pro­ceedings on the application until the question has been so decided.

            (3) The [15][Provincial Government], [16][* * *] in making [17][* * *] the rules fixing the period, shall, in considering whether the period should extend to thirty-five years, or whether it should extend bey­ond thirty-five years, have regard to the durability of the work for the purpose of which the loan is granted, and to the expediency of the cost of the work being paid by the generation of persons who "will immediately benefit by the work.

7.         (1) Subject   to such rules as may be made under   section 10, all loans granted under this Act all interest(if any) chargeable there­on, and costs (if any) incurred in making the same,  shall when  they become due, be recoverable by the Collector in all or any of the following modes, namely :-

(a)    from the borrower as if they were arrears of land re­venue due by him;

(b)   from his surety (if any}—is if they were arrears of land-revenue due by him:

(c)    out of the land for the benefit of which the loan has been granted—as if they were arrears of land-revenue due in respect of that land;

(d)   out of the property comprised in the collateral security (if any)- -according to the procedure for the realization of land-revenue by the sale of immovable property other than the land on which that revenue is due:

            Provided that no proceeding in respect of any land under clause (c) shall affect any interest in that land which existed before the date of the order granting the loan, oilier than the interest of the borrowers, and of mortgages of, or persons having charges on that interest, and, where the loan is granted under section-4 with the consent of another person, the interest of that person, and of mortgages of, or persons having charges on, that interest.

            (2)        When any sum due on account of any such loan, interest or costs is paid to the Collector by a surety or an owner of property comprised in ; any collateral security, or is recovered under sub-sec­tion (1) by the Collector from a surety or out of any such property the Collector shall, on the application of the surety or the owner of that property (as the case may be), recover that sum on his behalf from the borrower, or out of the land for the benefit of which the loan has been granted, inmanner provided by sub-section (1).

            (3)        It shall be in the discretion of a Collector acting under this
section to determine the order in which he will resort to the various
modes of recovery permitted by it.

(a)    that   the   work described is an   improvement  within the meaning   of   this   Act,;

(b)   that the   person mentioned had at the date of the order a right to make such an improvement; and

(c)    that the improvement is one benefiting the land specified.

(a)    the manner of making applications for loans;

(b)   the officers by whom loans may be granted;

(c)    the manner of conducting inquiries relative to applica­tions for   loans, and the powers   to be exercised by officers conducting those inquiries;

(d)   the nature of the security to be taken for the due appli­cation and repayment of the money, the rate of interest at which, and the conditions under which, loans may be granted, and the manner and time of granting loans;

(e)    the inspection of works for which loans have been granted;

(f)    the installments by which, and the mode in which, loans, the interest to be charged on them and the costs incurr­ed in the making thereof, shall be paid;

(g)   the manner of keeping and auditing the accounts of the expenditure of loans and of the payments made in respect of the same; and

(h)   all other matters pertaining to the working of the Act.

            Provided as follows :—

            (1)   where the Improvement consists of the reclamation of waste-land, or of the irrigation of 1 and assessed at irrigated rates, the increase may be so taken into account after the expiration of such period as may be fixed by rules to be framed by the [21][Provincial Government]

      [22][*            *          *];

            (2)  nothing in this section shall entitle any person to call in question any assessment of land revenue otherwise than as it might have been called in question if this Act had not been passed.