#THE LAND IMPROVEMENT LOANS ACT, 1883 
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##ARRANGEMENT OF SECTIONS 
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SECTIONS 

1. Short title. 
Local extent. Commencement. 
2.  Acts 26 of 1871 and 21 of 1876 repealed. 
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 State Government to be exercisable by Board of Revenue or Financial 
Commissioner. 

 
 

#THE LAND IMPROVEMENT LOANS ACT, 1883 

##ACT NO. 19 OF 1883
[^1]

[12th October, 1883.] 

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

  WHEREAS it is expedient to consolidate and amend the law relating to loans of money by the 
Government for agricultural improvements; It is hereby enacted as follows:— 

1. **Short title.**—(1) This Act may be called the Land Improvement Loans  Act, 1883. 

(2) **Local extent. Commencement.**—It  extends  to  the  whole  of  India  except the 
territories which,  immediately  before  the  1st  November,  1956,  were  comprised  in  Part  B 
States, but  shall  not  come  into  force  in  any  part  of the territories to  which  this  Act 
extends until such date as the State Government may, by notification in the Official 
Gazette, appoint in this behalf. 

###STATE AMENDMENT 

**Maharashtra**

  **Extension  of  Acts  no.  XIX  of  1883  and  No.  XII  of  1884  to  Hyderabad  and 
Saurashtra area of the State of Bombay.**—The Land Improvement Loan Act, 1883 and 
the Agriculturists’ Loans Act, 1884, (XIX of 1883), are hereby extended to and shall be, 
in virtue of such extension, in force in the Hyderabad and Saurashtra area of the State of 
Bombay. 

*[Vide* Bombay Act XXVII of 1958, s. 2] 

**Maharashtra**

**Consequential  and  other  amendments  to  Act  XIX  of  1883.**—In section 1, to 
sub-section (2) the following proviso shall be added, namely: -- 

  “Provided  that  on  the  commencement  of  the  Land  Improvement  Loans  and 
Agriculturists’  Loans  (Extension  and  Amendment)  Act,  1957,  this  Act  shall  also 
extend  to  and  be  in  force  in,  the  Hyderabad  and  Saurashtra  areas  of  the  state  of 
Bombay.” 

*[Vide* Bombay act XXVII of 1958, s. 3] 

[^1]. The  Act  has  been  amended  in  its  application  to  the  St ate  of  Madhya  Pradesh  by  the  C.P.  and  Berar 
Land Improvement Loans (Amendment) Act, 1949 (C. P. & B. 55 of 1949). 
Bombay  by  Bombay  Act  27  of  1958,  U.P.  by  U.P.  Act  42  of  1958  and  Haryana  by  Haryana  Act  26  of 1971. 
The  Act  has  been  extended  to  the  Hyderabad  and  Saurasthra  area  of  the  State  of  Bombay  by 
Bombay Act 27 of 1958. 
The  Act  as  at present in  force in the  State of  Gujarat, extended  to the Union  territory of  Dadra and  Nagar 
Haveli  by  G.S.R.  1639,  dated  3-12-1962.  Madhya  Pradesh  by  Madhya  Pradesh  Act  23  of  1958  (when 
notified), to Goa, Daman and Diu with modifications, by Reg. 12 of 1962, s. 3 and Sch. and to the whole of 
the Union territory of Lakshadweep by Reg. 8 of 1965, s. 3 and Sch. (w.e.f. 1 -10-1967). 
The Act has been repealed in its application to Bellary District by Mysore Act 14 of 1955 and to Malabar District of 
Kerala by Kerala Act 27 of 1961. 
Instruments executed by persons taking loans, or by their sureties, as security for the repayment of such 
loans,  are  exempted  from  stamp-duty—see  the  Indian  Stamp  Act,  1899  (2  of  1899),  Sch.  I.  Art.  40, 
exemption (1) and notification under s. 9. 


 
2. **Acts 26 of 1871 and 21 of 1876 repealed.**—(1) The Land Improvement Act, 1871, 
and Act XXI of 1876 (*An Act to amend the Land Improvement Act, 1871*), shall, except as 
regards  the  recovery  of  advances  made  before  this  Act  comes  into  force  and  costs 
incurred by the Government in respect of such advances, be repealed. 

(2)  When  in  any  Act,  Regulation  or  Not ification  passed  or  issued  before  this  Act 
comes into force, reference is made to either of those Acts, the reference shall, so far 
as  may  be  practicable,  be  read  as  applying  to  this  Act  or  the  corresponding  part  of 
this Act. 

3. **“Collector” defined.**—In  this  Act,  “Collector” means  the  Collector  of  land-revenue 
of  a  district,  or  the  Deputy  Commissioner,  or  any  officer  empowered  by  the  State 
Government  by  name  or  by  virtue  of  his  office  to  discharge  the  functions  of  a  Collector 
under this Act. 

4. **Purposes for which loans may be  granted under this Act.**—(1) Subject to such 
rules  as  may  be  made  under  section  10,  loans  may  be  granted  under  this  Act,  by  such 
officer as may, from time to time, be empowered in this behalf by the State Government, 
for  the  purpose  of  making  any  improvement,  to  any  person  having  a  right  to  make  that 
improvement, or, with the consent of that person, to any other person. 

(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 culturable; 

  (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  State  Government may,  from  time  to  time,  by 
notification in the Official Gazette, declare to be improvements for the purposes of this 
Act. 

###STATE AMENDMENT 

**Maharashtra**

In section 4, in sub-section (2), for the words “any work which adds to the letting value of 
land” the words “in relation, to any land, any work which adds to the value of the land and 
which  is  suitable  thereto  as  also  consistent  with  the  purpose  for  which  it  is  held”  shall  be 
substituted. 

*[Vide* Bombay Act XXVII of 1958, s. 3] 

5. **Mode of dealing with applications for loans.**—(1) When an application for a loan is 
made  under  this  Act,  the  officer  to  whom  the  application  is  made  may,  if  it  is,  in  his 
opinion,  expedient  that  public  notice  be  given  of  the  application,  publish  a  notice,  in  such 
manner  as  the  State  Government  may,  from  time  to  time,  direct,  calling  upon  all  persons 
objecting to the loan to appear before him at a time and place fixed therein and submit their 
objections. 

(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. 

6. **Period for repayment of loans.**—(1)  Every  loan  granted  under  this  Act  shall  be 
repayable by instalments (in the form of an annuity or otherwise), within such period from the 
date of the actual advance of the loan, or, when the loan is advanced in instalments, from the 
date of the advance of the last instalment actually paid as may, from time to time, be fixed by 
the rules made under this Act. 

(2) The period fixed as aforesaid shall not ordinarily exceed thirty-five years. 

(3) The  State  Government, in making 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. **Recovery of loans.**—(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)—as 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, other than 
the  interest  of  the  borrower,  and  of  mortgagees  of,  or  persons  havin g  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  mortgagees  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, in manner 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. 

8. **Order granting loan conclusive on certain points.**—A written order under the hand 
of an officer empowered to make loans under this Act granting a loan to, or with the consent 
of, a person mentioned therein, for the purpose of carrying out a work described therein, for 
the  benefit  of  land  specified  therein,  shall,  for  the  purposes  of  this  Act,  be  conclusive 
evidence— 

  (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. 

9. **Liability of joint borrowers as among themselves.**—When a loan is made under this 
Act to the members of a village-community or to any other persons on such terms that all of 
them are jointly and severally bound to the Government for the payment of the whole amount 
payable  in  respect  thereof,  and  a  statement  showing  the  portion  of  that  amount  which  as 
among themselves each is bound to contribute is entered upon the order granting the loan and 
is  signed  by  each  of  them  and  by  the  officer  making  the  order,  that  stateme nt  shall  be 
conclusive evidence of the portion of that amount which as among themselves each of those 
persons is bound to contribute. 

10. **Power to make rules.**—The  State  Government may, from  time  to  time,  by 
notification  in  the  Official  Gazette,  make  rules  consistent  with  this  Act  to  provide  for  the 
following matters, namely:— 

  (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 instalments 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. 

11. **Exemption of improvements from assessment to land revenue.**—When  land  is 
improved  with the  aid  of  a loan  granted under this Act, the increase in  value derived from 
the improvement shall not be taken into account in revising the assessment of land -revenue 
on the land: 

Provided as follows— 

  (1) where  the  improvement  consists  of  the  reclamation  of  wasteland,  or  of  the 
irrigation of land assessed at unirrigated 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  State 
Government; 

  (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. 

12. **Certain powers of State Government to be exercisable by Board of Revenue 
or Financial Commissioner.**—The powers conferred on a State Government by sections 
4 (1),  5 (1)  and  10  may,  in  a  State for  which there is a  Board of  Revenue or a Financial 
Commissioner, be exercised in the like manner and  subject to the like conditions by such 
Board  or  Financial  Commissioner,  as  the  case  may  be:  Provided  that  rules  made  by  a 
Board of Revenue or Financial Commissioner shall be subject to the Control of the State 
Government.