Displaced Persons (Debts Adjustment) Act,1951
Act No : 70
Section :
Apportionment of joint debts.
22. Apportionment of joint debts. Where a debt is due from a displaced person jointly with another person, the Tribunal shall, for the purposes of this Act, apportion the liability between them according to the following rules, namely:-- (a) if the liability of each debtor is defined, then according to the defined share of each; (b) if the debt was taken for any trade or business of the joint debtors, then according to the shares held by each of the joint debtors in the trade or business; (c) if the debt was not taken in any defined shares or for any trade or business in which the partners have any defined share, the debt shall be apportioned into as many parts as there are joint debtors, and each joint debtor shall be liable only for the part apportioned to him; (d) if one joint debtor is a displaced person and another is not, the sum apportioned to the non-displaced person shall not be deemed to be a debt within the meaning of this Act and the creditor may in respect of such debt seek any remedy open to him in a Civil court or otherwise; (e) if the debt was taken by a joint Hindu family, the members of the joint Hindu family shall be deemed to be joint debtors within the meaning of this section and the debt shall be apportioned amongst the members thereof in the same proportion in which shares would be allotted to them on partition: Provided that the share of any member of such a joint family any of whose male lineal ascendants in the male line of ascent is alive and joint with such 76 member shall be deemed to be included in the share of his oldest surviving ascendant in the male line of ascent, and such member shall not be separately regarded as a joint debtor for the purpose of this clause; (f) if the liability is secured by a mortgage of movable and immovable properties, the debt shall be apportioned between the two properties in the same proportion as the value of each property bears to the total value of the properties; Explanation.-For the purposes of this clause, the value of the movable property shall be deemed to be the value thereof immediately before the date on which the debtor became a displaced person, and the value of the immovable property shall be deemed to be the value of the verified claim in respect thereof; (g) Where the relationship between the joint debtors is that of principal and surety, nothing contained in this Act shall prevent the institution of a suit for the recovery of the debt against the surety but no decree shall be passed in such suit for an amount in excess of the amount decreed or which can be decreed against the principal debtor in accordance with the provisions of this Act: Provided that the total amount which may be recovered from the principal debtor and the surety shall not exceed the amount decreed or which can be decreed by the Tribunal against the principal debtor in accordance with the provisions of this Act.
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