Kurki

A farmer committed suicide in Punjab while sitting on a dharna outside the administrative complex against kurki orders for his land.

About kurki:

• Kurki means attachment of a farmer’s land, already pledged to the money lending institution or individual, in case of a loan default.
• Apart from banks, private moneylenders, commission agents also get these decrees against farmers from time to time.
• Execution of Kurki:
• Kurki orders are executed under Section 60 of Civil Procedure Code, 1908.
• The land which is pledged by the farmer to the bank or money lender gets registered in their name.
• In some cases, the land is auctioned as well.
• The process begins after the money lender moves court to get kurki orders in case the farmer is unable to pay back his loan.
• In kurki, attachment of farmer’s land as well as his tractor can be done as per the Section 60.
• In 2017, the then Amarinder Singh government abolished Section 67-A of Punjab Cooperative Societies Act that enabled cooperatives to recover unpaid loans through auctioning of land mortgaged by farmers.
• However, Section 63-B, 63-C of the Act were not dropped to prevent attachment of land.

Why has a total ban on the century-old kurki law not been achieved?

• A plea filed in the Punjab and Haryana High Court in 2018 sought complete ban on kurki.
• However, the Punjab government in its affidavit stated that there was no need to ban kurki as relief was being given to farmers in terms of loan waiver, compensation etc.
• Moreover, it stated that Section 60 of Civil Procedure Code, 1908 – under which kurki takes place — was over 110 years old and needed complete revision.