12. Method of control of extension of tea cultivation.―(1) No one shall plant tea on any land not
planted with tea on the date of commencement of this Act unless permission has been granted to him in
writing by or on behalf of the Board.
(2) No tea area shall be replaced by planting in tea on area not planted with tea unless permission has
been granted in writing by or on behalf of the Board.
(3) Nothing in this section shall prohibit the infilling or supplying of vacancies on land planted with
tea on the date of commencement of this Act or the replanting of tea upon―
(i) land planted with tea on the 31st day of March, 1950, from which original bushes have been
uprooted, or
(ii) land plant with tea on the 31st day of March, 1948, from which the original bushes have been
uprooted.
13. Limitations to the extension of tea cultivation.―(1) Subject to the provisions contained in
sections 15 and 16, the total area of land in respect of which the permission referred to in section 12 may
be granted, shall not exceed such area as may be determined by the Board under the general instructions
of the Central Government.
(2) The total area of land in any State in respect of which such permission may be granted shall be
such as may be determined by the Board:
Provided that the Board may vary the total area so determined for any State in order to increase or
diminish for another State the area in respect of which such permission may be granted by an amount
corresponding to the extent to which the area in the first mentioned State has been diminished or
increased.
(3) The Board shall publish the total area determined for India as well as the total areas determined
for the various States by notification in the Official Gazette of the Central Government as soon as may be
after the commencement of this Act and shall in like manner publish any subsequent variation of such
total areas.
14. Grant of permission to plant tea.―(1) application for permission to plant tea on any land not
planted with tea on the date of commencement of this Act shall be made to the Board and shall contain a
clear statement of all special circumstances justifying the application.
(2) The Board may require an applicant to supply such information as it thinks necessary to enable the
Board to deal with the application.
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(3) Subject to such conditions and restrictions as may be prescribed, the Board may by order grant or
refuse the permission applied for, or may in like manner grant it in part only or may call for further
information from the applicant.
(4) No order by the Board under sub-section (3) shall be called in question by any court.
15. Grant of permission to plant tea in special circumstances.―(1) Where any land which was on
the 31st day of March 1933, planted with tea (including land planted with tea on the 31st day of March
1931, from which the original bushes had been uprooted and which had not been replanted with tea on the
said 31st day of March 1933), or where any land planted with tea after the 31st day of March, 1933―
(a) has since become wholly incapable of carrying tea through circumstances due to war, or
through subsidence, flood, erosion, earthquake or other irresistible superhuman cause, or
(b) has since been compulsorily acquired under the provisions of the land Acquisition Act, 1894
(1 of 1994), or of any other law for the time being in force and no longer carries tea, or
(c) has since been transferred to the Central or a State Government or to a local authority and no
longer carries tea, or
(d) has since been resumed by the lessor under the terms of any lease and no longer carries tea,
wherever of the tea estate in which such land is situated may apply to the Board for permission to
plant tea on land not planted with tea.
Explanation.―Land taken for purposes connected with the prosecution of war on which tea bushes
have been allowed to remain for protective purposes though no longer cultivated shall be deemed for the
purposes of this section to be incapable of carrying or no longer to carry tea.
(2) Upon such application being made and upon proof to the satisfaction of the Board that the
application is entitled to the benefit of sub-section (1) the Board may by order grant permission to plant
tea on land not planted with tea:
Provided that the area of land in respect of which such permission is granted shall be within the same
or an adjacent district and shall belong to the same or an adjacent tea estate and shall not exceed in extent
the area of the land incapable of carrying tea or compulsorily acquired, transferred or resumed, as the case
may be.
(3) All areas of land in respect of which permission to plant tea is granted under this section shall be
excluded when computing for the purpose of section 13 the total area of land in respect of which the
permission referred to in section 12 may be granted.
(4) If any land falling within the Explanation to sub-section (1) is subsequently restored to the tea
estate from which it was substracted, the owner of the estate shall either uproot the tea planted thereon, or
uproot any tea planted by him in pursuance of a permission granted under sub-section (2).
16. Tea nurseries.―(1) The owner of a tea estate may establish nurseries on land not previously
planted with tea for the growing of plants intended for infilling or supplying vacancies or for replanting
land planted with tea within the area of the estate or for any other purpose approved by the Board.
(2) All area of land utilised for nurseries in accordance with this section shall be excluded when
computing for the purpose of section 13 the total area of land in respect of which the permissions referred
to in section 12 may be granted.