BATAI (CROP-SHARE) AGREEMENT
BETWEEN
__________, of __________, mobile __________ (the "Landowner", which expression includes the co-owners named below, if any);
AND
__________, of __________, mobile __________ (the "Cultivator").
The Landowner and the Cultivator are each a "Party" and together the "Parties".
RECITALS
B. The Landowner has agreed to let the Cultivator cultivate the Land on batai — a share of the actual crop, not a fixed cash rent — for the Term and on the share ratio stated below.
C. This arrangement is for agricultural purposes. s.117 of the Transfer of Property Act, 1882 accordingly takes it outside Chapter V of that Act, and clause 13 of this Agreement explains, honestly and without overstating the position, why the Parties do not present it for registration.
NOW THIS AGREEMENT WITNESSES as follows.
- 1. GRANT AND TERM
1.2 This Agreement gives the Cultivator the right to cultivate and possess the Land for the Term for the purpose stated in clause 4, and no more.
- 2. THE CROP AND THE SHARE
2.5 Neither Party warrants the size of the crop; the share described above is of whatever crop is actually harvested, and neither Party is liable to the other for a poor harvest caused by weather, pest or other cause beyond that Party's control.
- 3. THE GIRDAWARI ENTRY
3.1 The Cultivator's possession of the Land during the Term is under this Agreement and no otherwise. The Landowner may apply to have, and the Cultivator shall not object to, the khasra girdawari for the Land recorded during the Term as possession under batai from the Landowner, and not as an entry showing the Cultivator as an owner-cultivator or as any tenant other than under this Agreement.
- 4. PERMITTED USE, CROPS AND ENVIRONMENTAL COMPLIANCE
4.1 The Cultivator shall use the Land only for agricultural cultivation and for no other purpose, and shall not erect any permanent structure on it.
4.2 The Cultivator shall comply with the Punjab Preservation of Subsoil Water Act, 2009 where paddy is grown on the Land, and with every other law applicable to cultivation, and shall not burn crop residue or stubble on the Land in breach of any direction, notification or order for the time being in force prohibiting or restricting it.
- 5. INPUT COSTS
- 6. WATER
- 7. CULTIVATOR'S OTHER OBLIGATIONS
7.1 The Cultivator shall cultivate the Land in a proper and husbandlike manner, maintain the field bunds, water courses and boundaries in the condition found at the commencement of the Term, and not do anything that permanently reduces the fertility or usability of the Land.
7.2 The Cultivator shall not sub-let, assign or part with possession of the Land or any part of it, and shall not permit any other person to cultivate it, without the Landowner's prior written consent.
7.3 The Cultivator shall permit the Landowner to enter the Land at reasonable times to inspect the standing crop.
- 8. LANDOWNER'S COVENANTS
8.1 So long as the Cultivator performs this Agreement, the Cultivator shall peacefully hold and cultivate the Land for the Term without interruption by the Landowner or anyone claiming through the Landowner.
8.2 The Landowner shall pay the land revenue and every other levy assessed on ownership of the Land.
- 9. TAXES
9.1 The income-tax treatment of each Party's share of the crop, or of its sale proceeds, is not resolved by this Agreement and should be confirmed with a tax adviser rather than assumed to follow the same treatment as a fixed cash theka rent — see lawyerShouldCheck.
- 10. NO OCCUPANCY OR PROTECTED TENANCY
10.1 Nothing in this Agreement confers on the Cultivator any occupancy tenancy, protected tenancy or other right of continued possession beyond the Term under the Punjab Tenancy Act, 1887, the Punjab Security of Land Tenures Act, 1953 or any other law for the time being in force, and the Cultivator, to the extent the law allows a tenant to do so, waives any claim to such status arising out of this Agreement or any renewal of it.
10.2 This Agreement is not renewed or extended by the Cultivator remaining in occupation after the Term, or by any conduct of the Parties, and takes effect afresh only if a new agreement is executed in writing; clause 11 governs a standing crop at the end of the Term.
- 11. EXPIRY AND VACATION OF POSSESSION
11.1 On expiry of the Term, the Cultivator shall vacate and hand over peaceful possession of the Land to the Landowner, save only for a crop standing under clause 11.2.
- 12. DEFAULT AND TERMINATION
12.1 If the Cultivator abandons cultivation, commits a material breach of this Agreement not remedied within fifteen days of written notice, or fails to deliver the Landowner's share as this Agreement requires, the Landowner may terminate this Agreement by written notice and recover possession in accordance with law.
12.2 The Landowner shall not take forcible possession of the Land, destroy a standing crop, or otherwise recover possession except in accordance with law.
- 13. STAMP DUTY AND REGISTRATION
13.1 The Term of this arrangement does not exceed eleven months. On that footing, the Parties do not present this Agreement for registration and treat it as not compulsorily registrable under s.17(1)(d) of the Registration Act, 1908, which reaches a lease from year to year, for a term exceeding one year, or reserving a yearly rent.
13.2 The Parties record, and do not attempt to resolve as a matter of law, an open question: whether the second limb of s.17(1)(d) — reserving a "yearly rent" — has any application at all to an arrangement, like this one, that reserves a SHARE of the crop rather than any sum of money or crop quantity fixed in advance. This drafter takes the view that a genuine crop share is less obviously a "rent" than the fixed cash sum a theka reserves, but this is not a settled point, and the Parties proceed on the footing this Agreement adopts with that qualification stated rather than hidden.
13.3 s.117 of the Transfer of Property Act, 1882 excludes a lease for agricultural purposes from Chapter V of that Act, including from s.107's own registration requirement under that Act — but that exclusion answers a question under the Transfer of Property Act, and does not by itself answer the separate question under s.17(1)(d) of the Registration Act, 1908 addressed in clauses 13.1 and 13.2.
13.4 No stamp duty is treated as chargeable on this Agreement on the footing stated in the stamping note above. Either Party may nonetheless choose to have this Agreement stamped and registered, in which event the stamp duty and registration fee then applicable becomes payable and shall be borne as the Parties agree at that time.
- 14. DISPUTE RESOLUTION AND GOVERNING LAW
14.3 This Agreement is governed by the laws of India as in force at the place where the Land is situated.
- 15. GENERAL
15.1 This Agreement is the entire agreement between the Parties about the Land for the Term and supersedes all prior discussions.
15.2 No amendment is effective unless made in writing and signed by both Parties.
15.3 If any provision is held invalid or unenforceable, the rest of this Agreement continues in effect.
15.4 Clauses 3, 9, 10, 11 and 14 survive expiry or termination of this Agreement.
SCHEDULE I — THE LAND
SIGNED by the LANDOWNER
__________
Signature: ______________________________
SIGNED by the CULTIVATOR
__________
Signature: ______________________________
WITNESSES