Andhra Pradesh (Telangana Area) Money Lenders Act, 1349
Andhra Pradesh (Telangana Area) Money Lenders Act, 1349
Andhra Pradesh (Telangana Area) Money Lenders Act, 1349
1349
Act Details :
5 of 1349
(1) This Act may be called the Andhra Pradesh (Telangana Area) Money
Lenders Act, 1349F. and shall into force in the whole of the Telangana
area of the State of Andhra Pradesh from the date of its publication in the
Official Gazette, and from the said date the Agricultural Debtors Relief and
Prevention of Usury Regulation, 1341 F, and the Money Lenders
Regulation, 1347 Fasli shall be repealed.
(2) The form prepared, money lender s name registered, licence issued or
anything done under the Money Lenders Regulation, 1347 F. till the
commencement of this Act, shall be deemed to have been prepared,
issued, registered and done under this Act; and this Act shall apply to
them in the same manner as if they had been prepared, issued,
registered, and done under this Act.
Section 2 Definitions
(2) company means a company registered under the Companies Act, 1956
(Central Act 1 of 1956).
(g) a loan advanced by one trader to another trader in the ordinary course
of business, in accordance with practice in trade;
(7) Money lender means a person including a pawn broker, who, within
the meaning of this Act, only advances loan in the ordinary course of his
business or does so along with other business, and shall also include the
legal representative of such person and the person claiming to be his
representative on the ground of succession or assignment or otherwise;
(8) pawn broker means a person who in the ordinary course of his
business advances loan and takes goods in pawn as security for payment
of such loan;
(9) trader means a person who in the ordinary course of his business buys
and sells goods and property and shall also include the following persons:
a wholesale dealer and retailer, a commission agent. a broker, a controller
of factory, a contractor, a factory owner, but shall not include a person
who sells only his non agricultural produce or cattle or buys agricultural
produce or cattle for his own use;
(11) labourer shall mean a person who earns his livelihood merely by
physical labour and who receives wages in cash or in kind not exceeding
one rupee per day or thirty rupees per month.
(12) prescribed shall mean prescribed by rules made under this Act;
(13) stranger means a person who is not a citizen of India within the
meaning of the Citizenship Act, 1955 (Central Act 57 of 1955).
(2) All licences granted under this Act to the money lenders referred to in
sub section (1) shall be deemed to have been cancelled from 18th
Khurdad 1355 F., and all transactions of money lending carried on by such
persons as money lenders shall cease from the said date. Such money
lender shall not be entitled to refund of licence fee or to compensation on
account of cancellation of licences.
(3) The money lenders referred to in sub section (1) who had obtained
licences of money lending under this Act prior to the 18th day of Khurdad
1355 F. may under the provisions of this Act, recover through a competent
court the loans advanced before the said date.
(4) Any money lender referred to in sub section (1) who carries on the
business of money lending in contravention of the provisions of the said
sub section, or recovers his dues otherwise than in accordance with the
provisions of sub section (3) shall, on conviction before the Collector, be
punished with imprisonment for a term which may extend to one year, or
with fine or with both. An appeal from the order of the Collector shall lie to
the Sessions Judge.
(5) An offence under this section shall be cognizable and bailable and the
Court trying the offence shall, unless it is proved to the contrary, presume
that the accused is a stranger and that he was carrying on the business of
money lending in contravention of the provisions of this section.
(1) Every officer who has been authorised by Government under this Act
shall maintain a register of money lenders in such form and with such
particulars as may be prescribed. Such register shall be deem to be a
public document within the meaning of the Indian Evidence Act, 1872.
(2) Every money lender, in order to get his name registered, shall present
an application in writing in the prescribed form to the competent officer
and the said officer shall on such application being presented, register the
applicants name and grant a licence in the prescribed form and written
prescribed period:
Provided that the licensing authority may, if he has reason to believe that
a money lender is of undesirable conduct refuse to grant or to renew a
licence and shall record the reasons therefor. Where the licensing
authority is a Tahsildar an appeal from his order shall lie to the Collector
and to the Board of Revenue where the licensing authority is a Collector.
The decision of the appellate authority shall be final.
(3) Every person making an application under sub section (2) shall pay
such licence fee not exceeding twenty five rupees, as has been fixed for
the district concerned.
(4) A licence issued under sub section (2) shall be valid for one year from
the date of issue.
(5)
(a) No money lender shall carry on in any district the business of money
lending without obtaining a licence provided for in sub section (2).
(6) [Omitted.]
(b) the suit instituted by him has been dismissed in whole or in part on
the ground that an entry relating to loan has been made by him in any
document showing the amount of loan to be in excess of that actually
advanced including the necessary expenses incurred, or
(c) that suit instituted by him was dismissed on the ground that it was
based on fraud, or
Provided that the Collector shall not pass such order until the expiry of the
period for appeal or revision or review and in case an appeal or revision or
review has been disposed of.
(2)
(a) The Collector may take action under sub section (1) either of his own
motion or on the application of an interested party:
(b) The Collector may, during the period for an appeal either of his own
motion or on the application of an interested party review his own order,
provided an appeal therefrom is not pending before the Board of Revenue.
An appeal from an order or the Collector shall lie to the Board of Revenue
whose decision shall be final.
(b) deliver to the debtor every year the prescribed statement of account
signed by him or his agent specifying the amount of loan that may be
outstanding against such debtor on the prescribed date. Such statement of
account shall contain all transactions of loan entered into during that year.
The said statement shall be in the language of the village office of the
district for which the money lender has obtained a licence.
(2) The account mentioned in clause (a) of sub section (1) shall be so
maintained that items of principal and interest may be separately and
clearly ascertained and the balance of principal and interest shall be
shown separately. The money lender shall not be authorised to include the
interest or any portion of interest in the principal. The opening balance of
principal and interest shall be separately shown:
(3) The licensing authority or any person authorised by him may inspect
the books of account of a money lender for the purpose of satisfying
himself that the provisions of this section are being complied with.
(b) the time agreed upon between the parties for the redemption of pawn,
and
(2) The pawn broker shall at the time of transaction deliver to the pawner
a statement of the aforesaid entries under his or his authorised agent s
signature, the said statement shall be in the language mentioned in clause
(b) of sub section (1) of Section 5.
(3) The licensing authority or any person authorised by him may inspect
the books of account of a pawn broker for the purpose of satisfying
himself that the provisions of this section are being complied with.
Every money lender shall, without delay, pass a receipt for the payment
made by a debtor and if payment is made by challan an endorsement shall
be made thereon acknowledging receipt thereof.
Notwithstanding anything contained in any law for the time being force, in
every suit relating to a loan:
(1) the Court shall frame and decide the issues whether the money lender
is a money lender as defined in sub section (7) of Section 2, and whether
he has complied with the provisions of Section 3 and of clauses (a) and
(b) of sub section (1) of Section 5 and sub sections (1) and (2) of Section
6.
(2-A) if it is proved that the money lender has not complied with the
provisions of clause (a) of sub section (1) of Section 5, or of sub section
(1) of Section 6, or of section 8 and the plaintiff s claim is established in
whole or in part, the Court may, in the circumstances of the case, disallow
the whole or any portion of the interest due and may disallow the costs
wholly or in part;
(3) if it is proved that the money lender has not furnished the debtor with
a statement of account in accordance with the provisions of clause (b) of
sub section (1) of Section 5 or of sub section (2) of Section 6, the Court
shall, in computing the amount of interest exclude the interest in respect
of every period for which the money lender has not furnished the debtor
with the statement of account:
Provided that if the money lender has, after the prescribed time, furnished
the statement of account and the Court is satisfied that there was
sufficient cause for not furnishing the statement earlier, the Court may, in
spite of such default, include such period or periods for computing the
interest.
(1) The Government may, from time to time, by notification in the Andhra
Pradesh Gazette, fix the maximum rate of interest for any local area of
class of business of money lending in respect of secured loans and
unsecured loans.
(1-A) No money lender shall levy charges other than compound interest
and expenses mentioned in sub section (3) of this section incurred by him
in respect of loans.
(2) The parties may include a stipulation in the agreement that if the sum
payable as interest is not paid on the date fixed, under the agreement the
money lender may charge simple interest on such sum by way of damages
from the date of default until it is paid, at a rate not exceeding half the
rate of interest payable on the principal and the interest so charged shall
not, for the purposes of this Act, be deemed to be part of the interest
charged in respect of the loan.
(1) The provisions of this Act shall not apply to a loan advanced before the
commencement of this Act:
(2) In an inquiry under sub section (1) into the loan advanced to a
cultivator or a labourer, the outstanding interest shall be computed in the
following manner:
(a) the account for the twelve years preceding the commencement of this
Act shall be so examined that on the first day of the twelve years period
and if the loan had commenced within twelve years, on the date on which
the transaction commenced the amount outstanding against the debtor
shall be entered against the debtors name as principal:
(c) in the account of principal there shall be debited to the debtor s name
all such amounts as may, from time to time, have been actually received
by the debtor from the money lender and if any goods are sold as part of
the transaction, its price shall be included therein;
(d) in the account of principal there shall not be debited to the debtor s
name any outstanding interest which has been converted into principal by
any agreement, settlement, or contract in the course of the transaction;
(e) in the account of interest upto the date on which this Act comes into
force, simple interest on the balance of principal shall be calculated at the
rate agreed between the parties, provided that it does not exceed nine per
cent per annum in the case of secured loan and twelve per cent per
annum in the case of unsecured loan, and, from the date on which this Act
comes into force upto 18th Khurdad 1355 F, the rate of interest shall not
exceed nine per cent per annum and twelve per cent per annum
respectively. From 18th Khurdad 1355 F., the rate of interest shall not
exceed six per cent per annum and nine per cent per annum respectively;
(f) all payments made in cash or kind by the debtor to the money lender
or on his account, and all benefit of services or other advantages of every
description, received by the money lender in the course of the transaction
the value of which shall, if necessary, be determined by the court in its
discretion or with the aid of arbitrators appointed by it, shall be credited
first in the account of interest; and the balance if any, after payment of
the interest due shall be credited to the account of the principal;
(1) The court may, in respect of a decree without instalments passed after
the commencement of this Act at any time on the application of a
judgment debtor, after notice to the decree holder, direct that the amount
of the said decree shall be paid in such number of instalments and subject
to such conditions and on such dates as may, in its opinion, be proper
having regard to the circumstance of the judgment debtor and the amount
of the decree.
(b) follows the debtor wherever he goes or interferes with any property
owned or used by him or deprives him of, or hinders him in the use
thereof, or
(c) loiters or does any similar act at or near a house or place where the
debtors resides, works, or carries on any business or is present there by
accident;
(2) All rules made under this Act shall come into force from the date of
publication in the Official Gazette.
These rules may be called the Money-Lenders Rules and shall come into
force from the date of publication in the Official Gazette.
Rule 2 Definitions
(1) "Act" shall mean the Money Lenders Act, No. 5 of 1349 Fasli;
(2) Words and expressions used in these rules shall have the same
meaning as assigned to them in the Money-Lenders Act.
(3) "Authorised Attorney" shall mean such attorney as has been appointed
to be an attorney by a general or special power of Attorney.
(1) The power to register the name of money-lender and to grant him a
licence under sub- section (2) of the Section 3 of the Act, shall vest
(2) A licence issued under sub-rule (1) may be signed either by the officer
empowered in that sub-rule or on his behalf by any other officer
subordinate to him and authorised by him for this purpose.
The register maintained under sub-section (1) of Section 3 of the Act for
the purpose of registering money-lender shall be in the form of the
Schedule "A" attached hereto. Each page of the register shall bear the
serial number of the pages and seal of the concerned office also shall be
affixed thereto. At the end of the register the officer concerned shall,
under his hand, make an endorsement as to the total number of pages of
such register and affix his signature thereto.
The fee to be charged under sub- section (3) of Section 3 of the Act on
every licence before the issue thereof shall be rupees twenty five.
(a) He shall require the applicant to deposit licence fee prescribed under 9
which shall be credited in the concerned treasury under the Revenue
Head.
(b) After the fee is deposited the application shall, so far as it is relevant,
be entered in the register mentioned in Rule 4 and after duly filing up the
licence, relevant serial number and date of the aforesaid register shall be
entered therein, and the licence shall within two weeks from the date of
depositing the amount be given to the applicant on acknowledgement of
receipt by him.
A licence granted under Rule 11 shall be useful for one District only. A
money lender having his business in more than one District shall obtain a
separate licence for each district on payment of fees mentioned in Rule 9
for every licence.
Every Money-lender shall, within a period of three months from the date
of commencement of these rules, get himself registered and obtain
money-lending licence; otherwise he may be proceeded against under
Clause (b) of sub-section (5) of Section 3 of the Act.
The files relating to applications for registration and issue of licences shall
be preserved for six years and may thereafter be destroyed.
Every money-lender shall before the expiry of the period of licence obtain
another licence.
Where after the expiry of three months from the commencement of these
rules, an officer mentioned in Rule 3 has reason to believe that any
money-lender is carrying on money-lending business within the limits of
his jurisdiction without a licence, he shall summon the money- lender and
investigate the matter. Where the Investigating Officer is of an inferior
rank than that of a (Talukdar) "Collector" he shall, after completing the
investigation, forward the report to the (Talukdar) "Collector". On receipt
of the report the (Talukdar) "Collector" may pass orders in accordance
with the provisions of Section 3 of the Act. If the investigating officer is
himself a (Talukdar) "Collector" he may after completing the investigation
pass such orders as he deems fit and the (Talukdar) "Collector" may direct
any officer subordinate to him to investigate such contravention, forward a
report and may, on submission of such report, pass order under Section 3
of the Act. But every such order under Section 3 shall be communicated to
the concerned licensing authority. The (Talukdar) "Collector" shall pass an
order after hearing the money-lenders.
For the purposes of Rule 17 the officer-concerned shall have the same
powers with regard to summoning of witness, requiring production of
documents, recording evidence and other proceedings as are provided in
Chapter X of the Land Revenue Act.
The Civil Courts shall, from time to time after the expiry of the period of
appeal and if appeals have been filed, after the passing of judgments in
such appeals communicate to the (Talukdar) "Collector" particulars of
matters mentioned in Clauses (a) to (d) of sub-section (1) of Section 4 of
the Act forwarding extracts of final judgments. The aforesaid extracts and
copies shall be sent to the (Talukdar) "Collector" free of charge.
The (Talukdar) "Collector" shall before passing a final order under Section
4 of Act, cause a notice to be served upon the money-lenders, fixing a
date and requiring him to show cause why his licence should not be
suspended or cancelled or renewal thereof be prohibited for the
contravention. The (Talukdar) "Collector" shall, if the money-lender files
objections before the date fixed in the notice, after considering the same
and if the money- lender does not file objections before the date fixed
then after the said date, pass reasonable order in accordance with Section
4 of the Act, which shall be communicated to the money-lender and the
licensing authority concerned.
Rule 24 Form of statement of account
Full name, nationality and residence of every debtor together with father's
name and full name, nationality and residence of every joint debtor, if
any, together with his father's name shall be written on the top of the
account maintained by a money-lender in accordance with the provisions
of sub-section (1) of Section 5 of the Act.
The entries pertaining to the amount of loan, date of advancing loan, rate
of interest and the amounts repaid made in the Statement of account
mentioned in Rule 24 shall tally with the entries made in the account
books of a money-lender maintained under the Act.
(a) A copy of the statement of account shall with the debtor's expenses be
sent by post to the debtor at his address and the postal expenses shall be
charged to the debtor's account. The money-lender shall, while sending
the statement of account by post, obtain a certificate of posting and
preserve it.
(b) In case there are two or more joint debtors, in the absence of an
agreement to the contrary, the statement shall be furnished as aforesaid
to all such debtors as are concerned with the debt.
Money-lenders Rules
Serial number
Date of registration
Money-lender's name together with his father's name
Nationality or religion
and district
Name of treasury
Money-lenders Rules
in Rule 5)
To
The Tahsildar
.......................'Collector'
Taluq.............................
District...........................
Sir,
Dated :
Petitioner,
Full name.....................and
Father's Name
Money-lenders Rules
Money-lenders Licences
(As provided in sub-section (2) of Section 3 of Money-lenders Act
"Collector"
(Tahsildar)
Tahsildar District
Taluq
Schedule
Schedule (D)
Money-lenders Rules
1. Date
Amount of Loan :
3. Cash
Amount of Interest :
6. Rate of interest per annum
9. Amount of interest
10. Remarks
Payment :
11. Date
Figures of payment :
13. Cash
14. Kind with particulars of weight or quality or number
Details of Payment :
16. Interest
17. Capital
18. Remarks.
Abstract of Transaction
Money-lenders Rules
Locality/Village..............Taluq
District
(Money-lending licenceNumber............of..........13.....F./19......A.D.)
1. Date of taking in pawn.
3. Nationality or religion.
4. Age.
etc.
6. Name of commodity.
8. Amount of debt.
9. Period fixed for the redemption of the pledge.
11. Remarks.
Signature of pawner.
SCHEDULE F RECEIPT
RECEIPT
Money-lender's name
I.G. Rs................Np................
Money-lender/Agent
Signature.
Act Type : Andhra Pradesh State Acts