68. In this Act unless the context otherwise requires- "agriculture " includes-
| (i) the growing of rice, field crops, spices and condiments, industrial crops, vegetables, fruits, flowers, pasture and fodder; |
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| (ii) dairy farming, livestock rearing and breeding; |
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| (iii) plant and fruit nurseries; |
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"agricultural activity" means any activity involving agriculture and includes the use of machinery and equipment used in such activity and any activity involving minor irrigation work; " agricultural land " means land used or capable of being used for agriculture within the meaning of this Act and shall include private lands, lands alienated under the Land Development Ordinance or the Crown Lands Ordinance or any other enactment; " citizen of Sri Lanka" means an individual who is a citizen of Sri Lanka under any law for the time being in force relating to citizenship ; " construction" with reference to any irrigation work includes any improvement or extension of any irrigation work, or the repair or restoration of any abandoned irrigation work, or (subject to the definition of " maintenance" hereinafter contained) any operation for the protection of any irrigation work, or the irrigable area thereunder, or of any part of such work or area; " cultivator " with reference to an extent of paddy land means any person, other than an Agrarian Services Committee, who by himself or by any member of his family, or jointly with any other person, carries out on such extent:- (a) two or more of the operations of ploughing, sowing and reaping ; and (b) the operation of tending or watching the crop in each season during which paddy is cultivated on such extent; " evict" means in relation to a tenant cultivator, to deprive by using direct or indirect methods that tenant cultivator of his right to use, occupy and cultivate the whole or any part of the extent of paddy land let to him; "irrigation work" includes-
| (a) any tank, bund, anicut, ela, channel, distributory, field channel or watercourse comprised in or incidental or ancillary to the irrigation work; |
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| (b) any structure, road, bridge, sluice, gate or other engineering work comprised in, or incidental or ancillary to the construction or maintenance of the irrigation work; |
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| (c) any structure, bund, sluice or other engineering work erected for the purpose of draining any cultivated area or of preventing or regulating the flow of salt water into or out of any such area or of protecting such area from floods; |
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" landlord" with reference to an extent of paddy land means the person other than an owner cultivator, who will for the time being be entitled to the rent in respect of such extent if it were let on rent to any person, and includes any tenant of such extent who lets it to any subtenant; "let" with reference to any extent of paddy land, means to permit any person, under an oral or written agreement, to occupy and use such extent in consideration of the performance of any service by him or the payment of rent consisting of a sum of money or a share of the produce from such extent; " loan" means any loan, advance or overdraft together with interest thereon ; " maintenance " with reference to any irrigation work includes any operation for the protection of any existing irrigation work or the irrigable area thereunder ; "member of the family" with reference to any person, means the spouse or a son or daughter of that person and failing such spouse a son or daughter of that person or a parent, brother or sister of that person provided such person is a person whose main occupation is cultivation and whose only source of income is derived from such extent of paddy land; " minor irrigation work " means an irrigation work serving up to two hundred acres of agricultural land ; "occupier" shall mean the person for the time being entitled to the use and occupation of agricultural land by virtue of his being the lessee or usufructuary mortgagee and shall include persons in use and occupation of agricultural lands alienated under the Land Development Ordinance, the Crown Lands Ordinance or any other enactment, and includes a tenant cultivator within the meaning of this Act; "owner cultivator" with reference to any extent of paddy land means the person who is the owner or usufructuary mortgagee of such extent and who is the cultivator of the entirety of such extent and in the case of an extent of paddy land which has been alienated under the Land Development Ordinance, the person who derives title to such extent and who is the cultivator of the entirety of such extent shall be deemed to be the owner cultivator of such extent; "paddy land " means land which is cultivated with paddy or is prepared for the cultivation of paddy or which, having at any time previously been cultivated with paddy, is suitable for the cultivation of paddy, and includes such other land adjoining or appertaining to it as may be used by the cultivator for a threshing floor or for constructing his dwelling house, but does not include chena land or any land which, with the permission of the Commissioner is used for any purpose other than cultivation in-accordance with the provisions of this Act; " peace officer " has the same meaning as in the Code of Criminal Procedure Act, No. 15 of 1979 ; " prescribed bank" means any bank that may be prescribed; " prescribed " means prescribed by this Act or by any regulation made thereunder. |
Sri Lanka Consolidated Acts