Amendment status not verified — confirm the current text below against the official source.
In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires,- (i) "appropriate level of debt" means the amount of debt to be repaid by the debtor as determined by the Commission under clause (b) of sub-section (1) of section 5 of this Act; (ii) "Commission" means the Kerala state Fishermen Debt Relief Commission constituted under section 3; (iii) 'Co-operative society' means a society registered or deemed to have been registered under the Kerala Co-operative societies Act, 1969 (21 of 1969); (iv) 'Creditor' means any person engaged in money lending, whether under a licence or not and includes his heirs, legal representatives, assignees, middle men and includes any other person as may be notified by the Government; (v) 'debt' means any liability, in money, whether secured or unsecured, due from a fisherman whether payable under a contract, or under a decree or order of any Court or Tribunal, or otherwise and includes,- (a) any sum payable to; (i) an institutional creditor; (ii) a co-operative society; (iii) a Fishermen society; (b) any sum received from a creditor by a fisherman; (c) any type of loan taken by a fisherman from financial institutions and specified by the Government by Notification; but does not include any loan amount taken by a fisherman for commercial purposes or luxury other than fishing purposes to augment his income and the amount payable to Central or State Governments' or other State Governments or Governments of Union Territories and the amount due to Local Self Government Institutions, Statutory bodies, Central or State Public Sector Undertakings or other Institutions as may be specified by the Government by notification; (vi) 'disaster affected area' means districts/district or the fishermen zones forming part thereof in the State, declared by the Government under section 6, for the purpose of this Act, on the recommendations of the Commission; (vii) "district" means a revenue district; (viii) 'fair rate of interest' means the rate of interest determined by the Commission under clause (b) of sub-section (1) of section 5 of this Act; (ix) "financial institution" means any financial institution constituted by or under any Central Act or State Act for the time being in force and owned and controlled by the Government."; (x) 'fish' means various bio-aquatic resources caught from sea or backwater or other reservoirs of water and also includes any other acquatic resources as may be specified by the Government by notification; (xi) 'fishermen welfare society' means society constituted under the Kerala Fishermen Welfare Societies Act, 1980 (7 of 1981); (xii) 'fishing' means,- (a) fishing by traditional method or by using traditional or mechanised vessels. (b) sale of sea water/fresh water/saline water fish products by the family members of a fisherman by travelling to various places by two wheelers or by head load. but does not include fishing by using mechanised boat, for which licence has to be taken under section 6 of the Kerala Marine Fishing Regulation Act, 1980 (10 of 1981) and as may be specified by the Government by the Notification. (xiii) 'fisherman' means, a person who accept fishing as the foremost means of livelihood and whose annual income does not exceed the annual income limit fixed by the Government from time to time and it includes the widow of a fisherman; (xiv) ' Government' means the Government of Kerala; (xv) 'interest' means any amount payable in excess of the principal amount borrowed or pecuniary obligation incurred, by whatsoever name such amount may be called, whether the same is expressly mentioned or not in the document or contract, if any; (xvi) 'institutional creditor' means the State Bank of India or any Subsidiary Bank within the meaning of clause (k) of section 2 of the State Bank of India (Subsidiary Bank) Act,1959 or any Nationalised or Scheduled Bank; (xvi) 'member' means a member of the Commission and includes the Chairperson; (xvii) 'penal interest' means any amount payable in excess of interest on a debt; (xviii) 'prescribed' means prescribed by the rules made under this Act; (xix) 'principal amount' means the amount originally advanced together with the amount, if any, as has been subsequently advanced, notwithstanding any stipulation to treat any interest as capital and notwithstanding that the debt has been renewed, whether by the same fisherman or by his heirs, assignees, or legal representatives or by any other person acting on his behalf or on his interest, and whether in favour of the same creditor or his heirs, assignees or of any other person acting on his behalf or on his interest; (xx) 'secretary' means the secretary to the Commission appointed under sub-section (5) of section 3;