TMI Blog1965 (7) TMI 63X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... lared an evacuee under the provisions of the Administration of Evacuee Property Ordinance 27 of 1949 - which was later replaced by the Administration of Evacuee Property Act 31 of 1950. The Custodian of Evacuee Property took possession of the estate of the evacuee and applied to the Civil Judge, Lucknow for removal of attachment levied on the estate by the Civil Judge, Bahraich in execution of the decrees at the instance of the appellant. The Civil Judge, Lucknow, by order dated July 22, 1950 directed that the transfer certificates issued in the two decrees be recalled and the papers be consigned to the record. Against the order passed by the Civil Judge, Lucknow appeals were preferred by the appellant to the High Court at Allahabad. By order dated February 22, 1960 the High Court held that after the Custodian entered upon the management of the properties of the evacuee by virtue of Section 17 of the Administration of Evacuee Property Act, so long as the property remained vested in the Custodian under the provisions of that Act it was not liable to be proceeded against in any manner whatsoever in execution of any decree or order of any court or other authority. 3. On September ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... mily has, in our judgment, no force. The Rule of interpretation ejusdem generis applies where a general word follows particular and specific words of the same nature as itself: it has no application where there is no genus or category indicated by the legislature. The clause is intended to confer upon the Custodian power coupled with a duty to pay to the evacuee or to any member of his family or to any other person who in the opinion of the Custodian is entitled to any sum of money out of the estate of the evacuee. The powers of the Custodian and the duties are undoubtedly to be exercised under sub-section (2) for the purposes mentioned in sub-section (1) i.e for securing, administering, preserving and managing any evacuee property and generally for the purpose of enabling him satisfactorily to discharge any of the duties imposed on him. To ascertain the limits upon and extent of those purposes, the position of the Custodian qua the estate of the evacuee vested in him must first be determined. Section 7(1) authorises the Custodian to declare after enquiry any property as evacuee property within the meaning of the Act, and the property so declared is deemed to vest in the Custodian ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... be entitled to collect the property of the evacuee and not be under an obligation to satisfy his debts and obligations. The argument of counsel for the Custodian that the Custodian is merely to manage the property and is not invested with power to pay the debts due by the evacuee or to discharge liabilities of the evacuee is not borne out by the terms and the scheme of Section 10. The powers conferred and the duties imposed by Section 10(1) are for the purposes of securing, administering, preserving and managing the evacuee property, and there is no reason to attribute to the legislature an attempt at tautology by assuming that administering is used in the same sense as the expression managing . Again sub-section (2) makes it abundantly clear that the powers conferred and the duties imposed are not merely incidental to management as a statutory agent of the evacuee. For instance, upon the Custodian is conferred the power to carry on the business of the evacuee with all the discretion which the carrying on of the business of the evacuee may necessitate: he is entitled to complete buildings which are required to be completed, to keep evacuee property in good repair, and to take a ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... t if in the opinion of the Custodian such a person is entitled to the payment. Where a claim is made by a person who claims to be a creditor of the evacuee and he satisfies the Custodian that he is entitled to any sum of money, then normally the Custodian would be justified in discharging the obligations of the evacuee out of the funds in his possession. 6. But counsel for the Custodian relies upon the terms of Section 10(2)(m) as they originally stood before they were amended by Act 91 of 1956 and the deletion of Rule 22 framed under the Act, in support of the contention that the Parliament has deliberately taken away the power to entertain a claim for satisfaction of debts due by the evacuee. Section 10(2)(m), as it originally stood, provided: incur any expenditure, including the payment of taxes, duties, cesses and rates to Government or to any local authority; or of any amounts due to any employee of the evacuee or of any debt due by the evacuee to any person . Under Rule 22 made in exercise of the powers under Section 56 of the Act, provision was made for registration of claims by persons claiming to receive payment from any evacuee or from any property of such evac ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... f Section 10 sets out the powers of the Custodian generally, and the diverse clauses in sub-section (2) illustrate the specific purposes for which the powers may be exercised, and there is no reason to think that the clauses in sub-section (2) are mutually exclusive. If power to pay the debts was derived both under clauses. (m) (n) as it appears it was, deletion of the provision which authorised the Custodian to pay debts due by the evacuee to any person from clause (m) and of Rule 22 setting up the machinery for registration of debts did not, in our judgment, affect, the power which is conferred by clause (n) by sub-section (2) and also by Section 10(1). In our judgment, the power to administer is not merely a power to manage on behalf of the evacuee so as to authorise the Custodian merely to recover and collect the assets of the evacuee, but to discharge his obligations as well. The power to administer for purposes mentioned, having regard to the diverse clauses in sub-section (2), includes the power to pay such debts which in the opinion of the custodian are binding upon the evacuee. Specific enunciation of that power in clause (n) authorising the Custodian to pay to any other ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
|
