Enemy Property Act, 1968- Sections 7 to 12

7. Payment to Custodian of a money otherwise payable to an enemy, enemy subject or enemy firm.

7. Payment to Custodian of a money otherwise payable to an enemy, enemy subject or enemy firm.—(1) Any sum payable by way of dividend, interest, share profits or otherwise to or for the benefit of an enemy or an enemy subject or an enemy firm shall, unless otherwise ordered by the Central Government, be paid by the person by whom such sum would have been payable but for the prohibition under the Defence of India Rules, 1962 [i][or the Defence of India Rules, 1971, as the case may be], to the Custodian or such person as may be authorised by him in this behalf and shall be held by the Custodian or such person subject to the provisions of this Act.

(2) In cases in which money would, but for the prohibition under the Defence of India Rules, 1962 [ii][or the Defence of India Rules, 1971, as the case may be], be payable in a foreign currency to or for the benefit of an enemy or an enemy subject or an enemy firm (other than cases in which money is payable under a contract in which provision is made for a specified rate of exchange), the payment shall be made to the Custodian in rupee currency at the middle official rate of exchange fixed by the Reserve Bank of India on the date on which the payment became due to that enemy, enemy subject or enemy firm.

(3) The Custodian shall, subject to the provisions of Section 8, deal with any money paid to him under the Defence of India Rules, 1962 [iii][or the Defence of India Rules, 1971, as the case may be] or under this Act and any property vested in him under this Act in such manner as the Central Government may direct.

8. Powers of Custodian in respect of enemy property vested in him.

8. Powers of Custodian in respect of enemy property vested in him.—[iv][(1) With respect to the property vested in the Custodian under this Act, the Custodian may take or authorise the taking of such measures as he considers necessary or expedient for preserving such property till it is disposed of in accordance with the provisions of this Act.]

(2) Without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing provision, the Custodian or such person as may be specifically authorised by him in this behalf, may for the said purpose,—

(i) carry on the business of the enemy;

[v][(i-a) fix and collect the rent, standard rent, lease rent, licence fee or usage charges, as the case may be, in respect of enemy property;]

(ii) take action for recovering any money due to the enemy;

(iii) make any contract and execute any document in the name and on behalf of the enemy;

(iv) institute, defend or continue any suit or other legal proceeding, refer any dispute to arbitration and compromise any debts, claims or liabilities;

[vi][(iv-a) secure vacant possession of the enemy property by evicting the unauthorised or illegal occupant or trespasser and remove unauthorised or illegal constructions, if any.]

(v) raise on the security of the property such loans as may be necessary;

(vi) incur out of the property any expenditure including the payment of any taxes, duties, cesses and rates to Government or to any local authority and of any wages, salaries, pensions, provident fund contributions to, or in respect of, any employee of the enemy and the repayment of any debts due by the enemy to persons other than enemies;

(vii) transfer by way of sale, mortgage or lease or otherwise dispose of any of the properties;

(viii) invest any moneys held by him on behalf of enemies for the purchase of Treasury Bills or such other Government securities as may be approved by the Central Government for the purpose;

(ix) make payments to the enemy and his dependents;

(x) make payments on behalf of the enemy to persons other than those who are enemies, of dues outstanding on the 25th October, 1962 [vii][or on the 3rd December, 1971]; and

(xi) make such other payments out of the funds of the enemy as may be directed by the Central Government.

Explanation.—In this sub-section and in Sections 10 and 17, “enemy” includes an enemy subject and an enemy firm.

8-A. Sale of property by Custodian.

[viii][8-A. Sale of property by Custodian.—(1) Notwithstanding anything contained in any judgment, decree or order of any court, tribunal or other authority or any law for the time being in force, the Custodian may, within such time as may be specified by the Central Government in this behalf, dispose of whether by sale or otherwise, as the case may be, with prior approval of the Central Government, by general or special order, enemy properties vested in him immediately before the date of commencement of the Enemy Property (Amendment and Validation) Act, 2017 in accordance with the provisions of this Act, as amended by the Enemy Property (Amendment and Validation) Act, 2017.

(2) The Custodian may, for the purpose of disposal of enemy property under sub-section (1), make requisition of the services of any police officer to assist him and it shall be the duty of such officer to comply with such requisition.

(3) The Custodian shall, on disposal of enemy property under sub-section (1) immediately deposit the sale proceeds into the Consolidated Fund of India and intimate details thereof to the Central Government.

(4) The Custodian shall send a report to the Central Government at such intervals, as it may specify, for the enemy properties disposed of under sub-section (1), containing such details (including the price for which such property has been sold and the particulars of the buyer to whom the properties have been sold or disposed of and the details of the proceeds of sale or disposal deposited into the Consolidated Fund of India), as it may specify.

(5) The Central Government may, by general or special order, issue such directions to the Custodian on the matters relating to disposal of enemy property under sub-section (1) and such directions shall be binding upon the Custodian and the buyer of the enemy properties referred to in that sub-section and other persons connected to such sale or disposal.

(6) The Central Government may, by general or special order, make such guidelines for disposal of enemy property under sub-section (1).

(7) Notwithstanding anything contained in this section, the Central Government may direct that disposal of enemy property under sub-section (1) shall be made by any other authority or Ministry or Department instead of Custodian and in that case all the provisions of this section shall apply to such authority or Ministry or Department in respect of disposal of enemy property under sub-section (1).

(8) Notwithstanding anything contained in sub-sections (1) to (7), the Central Government may deal with or utilise the enemy property in such manner as it may deem fit.]

9. Exemption from attachment, etc.

9. Exemption from attachment, etc.—All enemy property vested in the Custodian under this Act shall be exempt from attachment, seizure or sale in execution of decree of a civil court or orders of any other authority.

10. Transfer of securities belonging to an enemy.

10. Transfer of securities belonging to an enemy.—(1) Where, in exercise of the powers conferred by Section 8, the Custodian proposes to sell any security issued by a company and belonging to an enemy, the company may, with the consent of the Custodian, purchase the securities, notwithstanding anything to the contrary in any law or in any regulations of the company and any securities so purchased may be re-issued by the company as and when it thinks fit so to do.

(2) Where the Custodian executes and transfers any securities issued by a company, the company shall, on receipt of the transfer and an order in this behalf from the Custodian, register the securities in the name of the transferee, notwithstanding that the regulations of the company do not permit such registration in the absence of the certificate, script or other evidence of title relating to the securities transferred:

Provided that any such registration shall be without prejudice to any lien or charge in favour of the company and to any other lien or charge of which the Custodian gives express notice to the company.

Explanation.—In this section, “securities” includes shares, stocks, bonds, debentures and debenture stock but does not include bills of exchange.

10-A. Power to issue certificate of sale.

[ix][10-A. Power to issue certificate of sale.—(1) Where the Custodian proposes to sell any enemy immovable property vested in him, to any person, he may on receipt of the sale proceeds of such property, issue a certificate of sale in favour of such person and such certificate of sale shall, notwithstanding the fact that the original title deeds of the property have not been handed over to the transferee, be valid and conclusive proof of ownership of such property by such person.

(2) Notwithstanding anything contained in any law for the time being in force, the certificate of sale, referred to in sub-section (1), issued by the Custodian shall be a valid instrument for the registration of the property in favour of the transferee and the registration in respect of enemy property for which such certificate of sale had been issued by the Custodian, shall not be refused on the ground of lack of original title deeds in respect of such property or for any such other reason.]

11. Power of Custodian to summon persons and call for documents.

11. Power of Custodian to summon persons and call for documents.—(1) The Custodian may, by notice in writing, require any person whom he believes to be capable of giving information concerning any enemy property to attend before him at such time and place as may be specified in the notice and examine any such person concerning the same, reduce his statement to writing and require him to sign it.

(2) The Custodian may, by notice in writing, require any person whom he believes to have in his possession or control any account book, letter book, invoice, receipt or other document of whatever nature relating to any enemy property, to produce the same or cause the same to be produced before the Custodian at such time and place as may be specified in the notice and to submit the same to his examination and to allow copies of any entry therein or any part thereof to be taken by him.

[x][(3) The Custodian, Deputy Custodian or Assistant Custodian shall have, for the purposes of exercising powers or discharging his functions under this Act, the same powers as are vested in a civil court under the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 (5 of 1908), while dealing with any case under this Act, in respect of the following matters, namely—

(a) requiring the discovery and inspection of documents;

(b) enforcing the attendance of any person, including any officer dealing with land, revenue and registration matters, banking officer or officer of a company and examining him on oath;

(c) compelling the production of books, documents and other records; and

(d) issuing commissions for the examination of witnesses or documents.]

12. Protection for complying with orders of Custodian.

12. Protection for complying with orders of Custodian.—Where any order with respect to any money or property is addressed to any person by the Custodian and accompanied by a certificate of the Custodian that the money or property is money or property vested in him under this Act, the certificate shall be evidence of the facts stated therein and if that person complies with the orders of the Custodian, he shall not be liable to any suit or other legal proceeding by reason only of such compliance.

References

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