The State government has issued a gazette notification framing guidelines for providing speedy disposal of cases to help small farmers and people from economically weaker sections in courts within six months.
President of India Droupadi Murmu gave her assent to the Bill – The Code of Civil Procedure (Karnataka Amendment) Bill, 2023, passed by the State legislature.
Minister for Law and Parliamentary Affairs H.K. Patil told reporters on Monday that with the notification of the Act and rules, the small farmers and people from economically weaker sections need not wait in courts to settle cases more than six months.
He said, “Person belonging to the weaker section means a person whose annual income from all sources should not exceed ₹3 lakh.”
Who is small farmer?
The Act defined that a “small farmer” is a person who holds not more than two units of land and the annual income not exceeding ₹3 lakh and his income drawn from agriculture.
Under the Act, a unit meant two hectares of unirrigated land; or one and one-fourth hectares of rain-fed wet land. It also meant that a half hectare of land has facilities for growing one irrigated crop or for growing plantation crops or grapes or coconut or areca nut or sugarcane or used for growing mulberry by irrigation.
One unit also meant a quarter hectare of land having perennial irrigation facilities or facilities for growing more than one irrigated crop in a year. Under the Act, “plantation crop” included cardamom, coffee, rubber and tea.
