Enemy Property Act, 1968- Sections 13 to 25

13. Validity of action taken in pursuance of orders of Custodian.

13. Validity of action taken in pursuance of orders of Custodian.—Where under this Act,—

(a) any money is paid to the Custodian; or

(b) any property is vested in the Custodian or an order is given to any person by the Custodian in relation to any property which appears to the Custodian to be enemy property vested in him under this Act, neither the payment, vesting nor order of the Custodian nor any proceedings in consequence thereof shall be invalidated or affected by reason only that at a material time,—

(i) some person who was or might have been interested in the money or property, and who was an enemy or an enemy firm, had died or had ceased to be an enemy or an enemy firm; or

(ii) some person who was so interested and who was believed by the Custodian to be an enemy or an enemy firm, was not an enemy or an enemy firm.

14. Proceedings against companies whose assets vest in Custodian.

14. Proceedings against companies whose assets vest in Custodian.—Where the enemy property vested in the Custodian under this Act consists of assets of a company, no proceeding, civil or criminal, shall be instituted under the Companies Act, 1956 (1 of 1956), against the company or any director, manager or other officer thereof except with the consent in writing of the Custodian.

15. Returns as to enemy property.

15. Returns as to enemy property.—(1) The Custodian may call for from persons who, in his opinion, have any interest in, or control over, any enemy property vested in him under this Act, such returns as may be prescribed.

(2) Every person from whom a return is called for under sub-section (1) shall be bound to submit such return within the prescribed period.

16. Registers of returns.

16. Registers of returns.—(1) All returns relating to enemy property submitted to the Custodian under this Act shall be recorded in such registers as may be prescribed.

(2) All such registers shall be open to inspection subject to the payment of such fees as may be prescribed and to such reasonable restrictions as the Custodian may impose, to any person who, in the opinion of the Custodian, is interested in any particular enemy property as a creditor or otherwise and any such person may also obtain a copy of the relevant portion from the registers on payment of the prescribed fees.

17. Levy of fees.

17. Levy of fees.—(1) There shall be levied by the Custodian fees equal to [i][five per centum] of—

(a) the amount of moneys paid to him;

(b) the proceeds of the sale or transfer of any property which has been vested in him under this Act; and

(c) the value of the residual property, if any, at the time of its transfer to the original owner or other person specified by the Central Government under Section 18:

Provided that in the case of an enemy whose property is allowed by the Custodian to be managed by some person specially authorised in that behalf, there shall be levied a fee of [ii][five per centum] of the gross income of the enemy or such less fee as may be specifically fixed by the Central Government after taking into consideration the cost of direct management incurred by that Government, the cost of superior supervision and any risks that may be incurred by that Government in respect of the management:

Provided further that the Central Government may, for reasons to be recorded in writing, reduce or remit the fees leviable under this sub-section in any special case or class of cases.

Explanation.—In this sub-section “gross income of the enemy” means income derived out of the properties of the enemy vested in the Custodian under this Act.

(2) The value of any property for the purpose of assessing the fees shall be the price which, in the opinion of the Central Government or of an authority empowered in this behalf by the Central Government, such property would fetch if sold in the open market.

(3) The fees in respect of property may be levied out of any proceeds of the sale or transfer thereof or out of any income accrued therefrom or out of any other property belonging to the same enemy and vested in the Custodian under this Act.

(4) The fees levied under this section shall be credited to the Central Government.

18. Transfer of property vested as enemy property in certain cases.

[iii][18. Transfer of property vested as enemy property in certain cases.—The Central Government may, on receipt of a representation from a person, aggrieved by an order vesting a property as enemy property in the Custodian within a period of thirty days from the date of receipt of such order or from the date of its publication in the Official Gazette, whichever is earlier and after giving a reasonable opportunity of being heard, if it is of the opinion that any enemy property vested in the Custodian under this Act and remaining with him was not an enemy property, it may by general or special order, direct the Custodian that such property vested as enemy property in the Custodian may be transferred to the person from whom such property was acquired and vested in the Custodian.]

18-A. Income not liable to be returned.

[iv][18-A. Income not liable to be returned.—Any income received in respect of the enemy property by the Custodian shall not, notwithstanding that such property had been transferred by way of sale under Section 8-A or Section 18, as the case may be, to any other person, be returned or liable to be returned to such person or any other person.]

18-B. Exclusion of jurisdiction of civil courts.

[v][18-B. Exclusion of jurisdiction of civil courts.—Save as otherwise provided in this Act, no civil court or authority shall have jurisdiction to entertain any suit or proceedings in respect of any property, subject matter of this Act, as amended by the Enemy Property (Amendment and Validation) Act, 2017, or any action taken by the Central Government or the Custodian in this regard.]

18-C. Appeal to High Court.

[vi][18-C. Appeal to High Court.—Any person aggrieved by an order of the Central Government under Section 18 of this Act, may, within a period of sixty days from the date of communication or receipt of the order, file an appeal to the High Court on any question of fact or law arising out of such orders, and upon such appeal the High Court may, after hearing the parties, pass such orders thereon as it thinks proper:

Provided that the High Court may, if it is satisfied that the appellant was prevented by sufficient cause from filing an appeal within the said period, allow it to be filed within a further period not exceeding sixty days.

Explanation.—In this section, “High Court” means the High Court of a State or Union Territory in which the property referred to in Section 18 is situated.]

19. Protection of action taken under the Act.

19. Protection of action taken under the Act.—No suit, prosecution or other legal proceeding shall lie against the Central Government or the Custodian or an Inspector of Enemy Property for anything which is in good faith done or intended to be done under this Act.

20. Penalty.

20. Penalty.—(1) If any person makes any payment in contravention of the provisions of sub-section (1) of Section 7, he shall be punishable with imprisonment for a term which may extend to six months, or with fine, or with both and the payment or dealing shall be void.

(2) If any person contravenes the provisions of sub-section (2) of Section 10, he shall be punishable with imprisonment for a term which may extend to six months, or with fine, or with both.

(3) If any person fails to comply with a requisition made by the Custodian under sub-section (1) or sub-section (2) of Section 11, he shall be punishable with fine which may extend to [vii][ten thousand rupees].

(4) If any person fails to submit the return under sub-section (2) of Section 15, or furnishes such return containing any particular which is false and which he knows to be false or does not believe to be true, he shall be punishable with fine which may extend to [viii][ten thousand rupees].

21. Offences by companies.

21. Offences by companies.—(1) Where an offence under this Act has been committed by a company, every person who, at the time the offence was committed, was in charge of, and was responsible to, the company for the conduct of the business of the company as well as the company, shall be deemed to be guilty of the offence and shall be liable to be proceeded against and punished accordingly:

Provided that nothing contained in this sub-section shall render any such person liable to any punishment, if he proves that the offence was committed without his knowledge or that he exercised all due diligence to prevent the commission of such offence.

(2) Notwithstanding anything contained in sub-section (1), where an offence under this Act has been committed by a company and it is proved that the offence has been committed with the consent or connivance of, or is attributable to any neglect on the part of, any director, manager, secretary or other officer of the company, sue director, manager, secretary or other officer shall also be deemed to be guilty of that offence and shall be liable to be proceeded against and punished accordingly.

Explanation.—For the purposes of this section,—

(a) “company” means any body corporate and includes a firm or other association of individuals; and

(b) “director”, in relation to a firm, means a partner in the firm.

22. Effect of laws inconsistent with the Act.

22. Effect of laws inconsistent with the Act.—The provisions of this Act shall have effect notwithstanding anything inconsistent therewith contained in any other law for the time being in force [ix][(including any law of succession or any custom or usage in relation to succession of property)].

22-A. Validation.

[x][22-A. Validation.—Notwithstanding anything contained in any judgment, decree or order of any court, tribunal or other authority,—

(a) the provisions of this Act, as amended by the Enemy Property (Amendment and Validation) Act, 2017, shall have and shall always be deemed to have effect for all purposes as if the provisions of this Act, as amended by the said Act, had been in force at all material times;

(b) any enemy property divested from the Custodian to any person under the provisions of this Act, as it stood immediately before the commencement of the Enemy Property (Amendment and Validation) Act, 2017, shall stand transferred to and vest or continue to vest, free from all encumbrances, in the Custodian in the same manner as it was vested in the Custodian before such divesting of enemy property under the provisions of this Act, as if the provisions of this Act, as amended by the aforesaid Act, were in force at all material times;

(c) no suit or other proceedings shall, without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing provisions, be maintained or continued in any court or tribunal or authority for the enforcement of any decree or order or direction given by such court or tribunal or authority directing divestment of enemy property from the Custodian vested in him under Section 5 of this Act, as it stood before the commencement of the Enemy Property (Amendment and Validation) Act, 2017, and such enemy property shall continue to vest in the Custodian under Section 5 of this Act, as amended by the aforesaid Act, as the said section, as amended by the aforesaid Act was in force at all material times;

(d) any transfer of any enemy property, vested in the Custodian, by virtue of any order of attachment, seizure or sale in execution of decree of a civil court or orders of any tribunal or other authority in respect of enemy property vested in the Custodian which is contrary to the provisions of this Act, as amended by the Enemy Property (Amendment and Validation) Act, 2017, shall be deemed to be null and void and notwithstanding such transfer, continue to vest in the Custodian under this Act.]

23. Power to make rules.

23. Power to make rules.—(1) The Central Government may make rules for carrying out the purposes of this Act.

(2) Without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing power, such rules may provide for—

(a) the returns that may be called for by the Custodian under sub-section (1) of Section 15 and the period within which such returns shall be submitted under sub-section (2) of that section;

(b) the registers in which the returns relating to enemy property shall be recorded under Section 16;

(c) the fees for the inspection of registers and for obtaining copies of the relevant portions from the registers under sub section (2) of Section 16;

(d) [xi][* * *]

(e) any other matter which has to be or may be prescribed.

(3) Every rule made by the Central Government under this section shall be laid, as soon as may be after it is made, before each House of Parliament while it is in session for a total period of thirty days which may be comprised in one session [xii][or in two or more successive sessions and if, before the expiry of the session immediately following the session or the successive sessions aforesaid], both Houses agree in making any modification in the rule or both Houses agree that the rule should not be made, the rule shall thereafter have effect only in such modified form or be of no effect, as the case may be; so, however, that any such modification or annulment shall be without prejudice to the validity of anything previously done under that rule.

24. Certain orders made under the Defence of India Rules, 1962, to continue in force.

24. Certain orders made under the Defence of India Rules, 1962, to continue in force.—[xiii][(1)] Every order which was made under the Defence of India Rules, 1962, by the Central Government or by the Custodian of Enemy Property for India appointed under those rules, relating to enemy property and which was in force immediately before the expiration thereof shall, insofar as such order is not inconsistent with the provisions of this Act, be deemed to continue in force and to have been made under this Act.

[xiv][(2) Every order which was made under the Defence of India Rules, 1971 by the Central Government or by the Custodian of Enemy Property for India appointed under those rules relating to enemy property and which was in force immediately before the expiration thereof shall, insofar as such order is not inconsistent with the provisions of this Act, be deemed to continue in force and to have been made under this Act.]

25. Repeal and saving.

25. Repeal and saving.—(1) The Enemy Property Ordinance, 1968 (7 of 1968), is hereby repealed.

(2) Notwithstanding such repeal, anything done or any action taken under the said Ordinance shall be deemed to have been done or taken under the corresponding provisions of this Act.

References

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