Professional Documents
Culture Documents
The Chit Funds Act
The Chit Funds Act
CHAPTER 1
PRELIMINARY
1. Short title, extent and commencement - (1) This Act may be called the Chit
Funds Act, 1982.
2. It extends to the whole of India except the State of Jammu and Kashmir.
3. It shall come into force on such date as the Central Government may, by
notification in the Official Gazette, appoint, and different dates may be
appointed for different States.
(a) "approved bank" means the State Bank of India constituted under section 3
of the State Bank of India Act, 1955, or a subsidiary bank constituted under
section 3 of the State Bank of India (Subsidiary Banks) Act, 1959, or a
corresponding new bank constituted under section 3 of the Banking
Companies (Acquisition and Transfer of Undertakings) Act, 1970, or a
Regional Rural Bank established under section 3 of the Regional Rural
Banks Act, 1976, or a corresponding new bank constituted under section 3
of the Banking Companies (Acquisition and Transfer of Undertakings) Act,
1980, or a banking company as defined under clause (c) of section 5 of the
Banking Regulation Act 1949 or a banking institution notified by the Central
Government under section 51 of that Act or such other banking institution
as the State Government may, in consultation with the Reserve Bank,
approve for the purposes of this Act;
(b) "chit' means a transaction whether called chit, chit fund, chitty, kury or by
any other name or under which a person enters into an agreement with a
specified number of persons that every one of them shall subscribe a
certain sum of money (or a certain quantity of grain instead) by way of
periodical installments over a definite period and that each such subscriber
shall, in his turn, as determined by lot or by auction or by tender or in such
other manner as may be specified in the chit agreement, be entitled to the
prize amount.
(b) all the subscribers get the chit amount by turns with a liability to pay future
subscriptions;
(c) 'chit agreement ' means the document containing the articles of
agreement between the foreman and the subscribers relating to the chit;
(d) 'chit amount' means sum-total of the subscriptions payable by all the
subscribers for any instalment of a chit without any deduction of discount
or otherwise;
(e) 'chit business' means the business of conducting a chit;
(h) "dividend' means the share of the subscriber in the amount of discount
available under the chit agreement for rateable distribution among the
subscribers at each instalment of the chit;
(i) "draw" means the manner specified in the chit agreement for the purpose
of ascertaining the prized subscriber at any instalment of the chit;
(j) "foreman' means the person who under the chit agreement is responsible
for the conduct of the chit and includes any person discharging the
functions of the foreman under section 39;
(m) "prize amount" means the difference between the chit amount and the
discount, and in the case of a fraction of a ticket means the difference
between the chit amount and the discount proportionate to the fraction of
the ticket, and when the prize amount is payable otherwise than in cash,
the value of the prize amount shall be the value at the time when it
becomes payable;
(r) "subscriber" includes a person who holds a fraction of a ticket and also a
transferee of a ticket or fraction thereof by assignment in writing or by
operation of law;
Provided that if the defaulter pays the defaulted instalment with interest at
such rate as may be prescribed within seven days of the date of receipt of
such notice, his name shall be re-entered in the list of such subscribers.
(2) Every such removal under sub-section (1) shall within the date thereof by
entered in the relevant book maintained by the foreman.
(3) A true copy of the entry referred to in sub-section (2) shall be filed by the
foreman with the Registrar within fourteen days from the date of removal.
(4) Any defaulting subscriber aggrieved by the removal of his name from the
list of subscribers may within seven days of the date of receipt of the notice
of removal refer the matter to the Registrar for arbitration under section 64.
Substitution of subscribers
(1) A foreman may substitute in the list of subscribers any person (hereafter
in this Chapter referred to as the substituted subscriber) in place of the
defaulting subscriber whose name has been removed under sub-section
(1) of section 28.
(2) Every substitution referred to in sub-section (1) shall, with the date
therefor, be entered in the relevant book maintained by the foreman and a
true copy of every such entry shall be filed by the foreman with the
Registrar within fourteen days from the date of substitution.
(3) The contributions of any defaulting subscriber who has been substituted
till the termination of the chit shall be paid to him within fifteen days from
the date of termination of the chit subject to such deductions as may be
provided for in the chit agreement.
CHAPTER V
Every prized subscriber shall, if he has not offered, to deduct the amount
of all future subscriptions from the prize amount due to him, furnish, and a
foreman shall take, sufficient security for the due payment of all future
subscriptions and, if the foreman is a prized subscriber, he shall give
security for the due payment of all the future subscriptions to the
satisfaction of the Registrar.
Every prized subscriber shall pay his subscriptions regularly on the dates
and times and at the place mentioned in the chit agreement and, on his
failure to do so, he shall be liable to make a consolidated payment of all
the future subscriptions forthwith.
(3) Any person who holds any interest in the property furnished as security or
part thereof, shall be entitled to make the payment under sub-section (2).