Agrarian Development (Amendment) Act 2011 · As enacted
2. Insertion of new Part I in the Act…
Official English translation. Where it differs from the Sinhala or Tamil text, the Act itself says which text prevails.
Official translationFrom Department of Government Printing, unchanged
The Agrarian Development Act, No. 46 of 2000
(hereinafter referred to as the “principal enactment”) is hereby amended by the insertion immediately after section 1 thereof, of the following Part which shall have effect as PART I of the principal enactment:—
“ PART I
TENANT CULTIVATORS OF PADDY LANDS
1A. A person being a citizen of Sri Lanka shall, from and after the date of the coming into operation of this Act, be deemed to be a tenant cultivator within the meaning and for the purposes of the principal enactment, if, at any time during the period commencing on the eighteenth day of August two thousand and ending on the day immediately preceding the date of the coming into operation of this
Act,—
such person had cultivated an extent of paddy land under an agreement, whether written or oral, entered prior to, or on, the eighteenth day of August two thousand;
“Persons deemed to be tenant cultivators for the purposes of this Act.
such person, being in terms of the provisions of section 1D, a successor, of a tenant cultivator who is deceased or is permanently disabled, who had been evicted from the extent of paddy land which had previously been cultivated by such deceased or disabled tenant cultivator.
1B.
Procedure to be followed where possession of the extent of paddy land cannot be awarded to a person deemed to be a tenant cultivator
Where at any time during the period commencing on the eighteenth day of August two thousand and ending on the day immediately preceding the date of the coming into operation of this Act, the nature of the possession of any extent of paddy land specified in section 1A has changed by reason of any sale, transfer or upon any Order of any Court, no person shall, even though such person is deemed to be the tenant cultivator by virtue of the provisions of section 1A, be placed in possession of any such extent of paddy land or be given possession of any such extent:
Provided however, such tenant cultivator as is referred to above, may make an application in writing, in that behalf to the Commissioner-General of Agrarian Services setting out with documentary proof, the reason which prevents him from being placed in or given possession of the extent of paddy land of which he has been deemed to be the tenant cultivator. The
Commissioner-General shall, after such inquiry as may be required in the circumstances and on consideration of the facts before him and upon summoning such person to make any further explanation as he considers necessary, make order that such person shall therefor be paid compensation in lieu of placing such person in or giving such person possession of the relevant extent of paddy land.
Regulations shall be made specifying the criteria to be taken into account in making an order for the payment of compensation in terms of the above proviso and the basis on which the amount to be paid as compensation is to be determined.
1C.
Where the lessee of an extent of paddy land shall not be
Where a person who pursuant to a permit issued under the Land Development
Ordinance (Chapter 469)—
holds an extent of paddy land subject to the condition that such permit holder himself shall cultivate such extent of paddy land; and a tenant cultivator.
leases out such extent of paddy land to a person who cultivates such extent of paddy land, the person so cultivating such extent of paddy land shall not be deemed to be a tenant cultivator within the meaning and for the purpose of the principal enactment.
1D.
Devolution of rights of tenant cultivators
The rights of a tenant cultivator under the principal enactment in respect of an extent of paddy land shall in the event of the death or permanent disability of such tenant cultivator, devolve on the surviving spouse of such tenant cultivator and failing such spouse, on only one of the children of such tenant cultivator:
Provided that in the latter instance, if there is more than one child, the child whose sole means of living is cultivation, shall be preferred to the others:
Provided further, if there is more than one child, whose sole means of living is cultivation, the oldest from amongst such children shall be preferred to the others.
deemed to be
The rights of a tenant cultivator of an extent of paddy land which is cultivated, either jointly or in rotation with any other tenant cultivator, who dies or becomes permanently disabled, shall in relation to such extent, be devolved in accordance with the provisions of this section.
1E.
Nomination of a successor by a tenant cultivator
Notwithstanding the provisions of section 1D, any tenant cultivator, other than those who cultivate an extent of paddy land jointly or in rotation with any other tenant culitvator or cultivators, may nominate any member of his family as the successor who shall be entitled to succeed to the rights of such tenant cultivator under this Act in respect of the extent of paddy land he culitvates, in the event of his death or permanent disability.
Any nomination of successor may at any time be cancelled by the tenant caltivator who made such nomination and a fresh nomination of a successor may be made by such tenant cultivator.
The nomination of a successor and the cancellation of any such nomination shall be effected by a tenant cultivator in a document substantially in the prescribed form executed in duplicate and witnessed in the presence of the Government Agent or the Divisional
Secretary or the Registrar of Lands or a Notary
Public or a Justice of Peace, who is in charge of, or is engaged in, official duties in respect of the area within which the extent of paddy land relating to the nomination or cancellation, is situated.
No stamp duty shall be charged or levied on the execution of a document specified in subsection (3).
The original and the duplicate of the document executed in accordance with the provisions of subsection (3) shall be submitted for registration to the Commissioner-General by the respective officer referred to in subsection (3) in the presence of whom the document is executed. Any such document shall not be valid unless and until it has been duly registered by the Commissioner-General.
The Commissioner-General shall return the original of the document submitted to him under subsection (5) after registration, to the tenant cultivator making the nomination or cancellation and keep the duplicate thereof, for the purpose of maintaining records. Such records shall be inspected by any person upon paying the prescribed fee.
After the registration of a document specified under subsection (3) whereby a person is nominated as the successor to the rights of a tenant cultivator under this Act in respect of any extent of paddy land, a document specified in that subsection whereby any other person is nominated as the successor to those rights shall not be registered unless the nomination effected by the registered document has been duly cancelled by the registration of a document of cancellation. In one and the same document the registered nomination may be cancelled and another nomination in lieu thereof may be made.
In that event the document in which such cancellation and nomination are combined may be registered and shall upon due registration operate both as a cancellation of the previously registered nomination and as the nomination of a new nominee.
Where an application under subsection (3) of section 53 is made to the Commissioner-General, to amend an Agricultural Lands
Register by entering the name of a new tenant cultivator therein, in the event of the death or permanent disability of a tenant cultivator, a document, if any, nominating a successor to the rights of the tenant cultivator under subsection (1), or cancelling any such nomination under subsection (2), shall be taken into account by the Commissioner-General and upon verifying the facts of the application, he shall make order to the Agrarian Development
Council of the area within which the paddy land relating to such application is situated, to make entries required to include the name of the applicant as the new tenant cultivator of the relevant paddy land.
Regulations shall be made prescribing the procedure for registration of a document specified under subsection (3), including the registers which shall be kept for maintaining records of the documents submitted to the
Commissioner-General under this section.
For the purposes of this section “member of the family” means the spouse or a son or a daughter of the tenant cultivator, whose main occupation is cultivation and whose only source of income is derived from the extent of paddy land cultivated by the tenant cultivator.
1F.
Where there is no successor
Where a tenant cultivator of any extent of paddy land dies or becomes permanently disabled, and if there is no successor in terms of the provisions of section 1D or 1E, to inherit the rights of such deceased or permanently disabled tenant cultivator, as the case may be, in respect of such extent, the landlord being the owner of such extent may, if he so desires, take possession of such extent of paddy land and cultivate the same as the owner cultivator of such extent:
Provided that prior to cultivating such land as the owner cultivator, the landlord shall give written notice to the Commissioner-General, of his intention so to cultivate such extent of paddy land as owner cultivator.
If it is proved to the satisfaction of the
Commissioner-General, that the tenant cultivator has died or has become permanently disabled and there is no successor of the family in terms of the provisions of section 1D or 1E, to inherit the rights of the deceased or of permanently disabled tenant cultivator, he shall permit the owner of such extent of paddy land to occupy and cultivate such extent as the owner cultivator thereof.
1G.
Person not entitled to rights of a deceased or permanently disabled tenant cultivator in respect of any extent of paddy land not to use or occupy same
Where the tenant cultivator of an extent of paddy land has died or has become permanently disabled, no person who is not entitled to the rights of a tenant cultivator in respect of such extent of paddy land shall occupy and use such extent of paddy land.
Where a person uses or occupies an extent of paddy land in contravention of the provisions of subsection (1), the Commissioner-General shall in writing, order such person to vacate such extent, on or before such date as shall be specified in such order. If such person fails to comply with such order, he shall be evicted from the relevant extent of paddy land in accordance with the provisions of section 8.
1H. (1) Where on the death or permanent disability of a tenant cultivator of any extent of paddy land, there is a dispute as to the person on whom the rights of such tenant cultivator under this Act should devolve, the parties to the dispute shall first refer such dispute to the
Commissioner-General for determination, after having given written notice of such dispute to the Commissioner-General by registered post.
On receipt of the notice under subsection (1), the Commissioner-General shall refer the dispute to an Agrarian Tribunal and direct such
Tribunal to hold an inquiry for the purpose of determining the person on whom the rights of the deceased or permanently disabled tenant cultivator shall devolve.
The determination of the Agrarian
Tribunal shall be communicated by registered post to the Commissioner-General with copies to the parties to such dispute.”