Chapter II Chapter II

(1) The Government may, by notification in the Official Gazette, appoint a Custodian and as many Deputy or Assistant Custodians of evacuee property as may be necessary for the purpose of discharging the duties imposed on the Custodian by or under this Act and may, by general or special order, provide for the distribution of work among them: [Omitted] (2) Notwithstanding anything contained in sub-section (1) any person who was exercising the powers of or functioning as a Custodian of property left behind by Portuguese nationals in Goa, Daman and Diu, by virtue of Proclamation No. XII dated 22nd January, 1962, issued by the Military Governor thereof, shall be deemed to be a Custodian appointed under this Act until a Custodian is appointed under this Act.

(1) Where the Custodian is of opinion that any property is evacuee property within the meaning of this Act, he may, after causing notice thereof to be given, in such manner as may be prescribed, to the persons interested, and after holding such inquiry into the matter as the circumstances of the case may permit, pass an order declaring any such property to be evacuee property. (2) Where, during the pendency of any proceeding under sub-section (1) for declaring any property to be evacuee property, any person interested in the property dies, the proceeding shall, unless the Custodian otherwise directs, be continued and disposed of as if such person were alive. (3) Where a notice has been issued under sub-section (1) in respect of any property, such property shall, pending the determination of the question whether it is evacuee property or otherwise, be incapable of being transferred or charged in any way except with the leave of the Custodian, and no person shall be capable of taking any benefit from such transfer or charge except with such leave. (4) The Custodian shall, notify by publication in the Official Gazette and in such other manner as may be prescribed, all properties declared by him to be evacuee properties under sub-section (1), within a period of thirty days from the date of the declaration.

(1) Any property declared to be evacuee property under section 5 shall be deemed to have vested in the Custodian— (a) in the case of property of an evacuee as defined in sub-clause (i) of clause (b) of section 2, from the date on which he leaves or has left any place in Goa, Daman and Diu for any place outside India; (b) in the case of property of an evacuee as defined in sub-clause (ii) of clause (b) of section 2, from the date of such transfer; and (c) in the case of property of an evacuee as defined in sub-clause (iii) of clause (b) of section 2, from the relevant date. (2) Where immediately before the commencement of this Act any property in Goa, Daman and Diu had vested as evacuee property in any person exercising the powers of Custodian under any law or order repealed hereby, the property shall, on the commencement of this Act be deemed to be evacuee property declared as such within the meaning of this Act and shall be deemed to have vested in the Custodian appointed under this Act and shall continue to so vest. (3) Where after any evacuee property has vested in the Custodian any person, including an officer of Government, is in possession thereof, he shall be deemed to be holding on behalf of the Custodian and shall on demand surrender possession of it to the Custodian or to any other person duly authorised by him in this behalf.

(1) If any person in possession of any evacuee property refuses or fails on demand to surrender possession thereof to the Custodian or to any person duly authorised by him in this behalf, the Custodian may use or cause to be used such force as may be necessary for taking possession of such property and may for this purpose, after giving reasonable warning (and reasonable facility to any woman who by custom or usage will not appear in public, to withdraw), remove or break open any lock bolt or any door or do any other act necessary for the said purpose. (2) Where it becomes necessary to use force, the Custodian may, with the approval of Government requisition the aid of the Police and in such cases, every officer of the Police shall be bound to render such assistance as may be required by the Custodian. (3) No such force as is referred to in sub-section (2) shall be used against any person who, as on the 30th day of June 2000, is in occupation of a dwelling house situated on evacuee property vested in the Custodian under the principal Act.

(1) Save as otherwise expressly provided and subject to the provision of any rules that may be made in this behalf, the Custodian may take such measures as he considers necessary or expedient for the purposes of 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 by or under this Act and may, for any such purpose as aforesaid, do all acts and incur all expenses necessary or incidental thereto. (2) Without prejudice to the generality of the provisions contained in sub-section (1), the Custodian may, for any of the purposes aforesaid,— (a) appoint a manager for the property of the evacuee or for carrying on any business or under taking of the evacuee and authorise the manager to exercise any of the powers of the Custodian under this section; (b) enter, or authorise any other person to enter any land or premises to inspect any evacuee property; (c) take all such measures as may be necessary to keep any evacuee property in good repair; (d) complete any building which has vested in him and which requires to be completed; (e) require any person, notwithstanding anything to the contrary contained in any other law for the time being in force relating to the disclosure of any information by a public servant or any other person, to furnish such returns, accounts or other information in relation to any property and to produce such documents in his possession as the Custodian considers necessary for the discharge of his duties under this Act; (f) require any banking company to furnish such information as the Custodian may require with respect to remittances made after the relevant date to any such area outside India as may be specified by the Custodian, either generally, or with reference to any person or class of persons; (g) take such action as may be necessary for the recovery of any debt due to the evacuee; (h) institute, defend or continue any legal proceeding in any civil or revenue court on behalf of the evacuee or refer any dispute between the evacuee and any other person to arbitration or compromise any claims, debts or liabilities on behalf of the evacuee; (i) incur any expenditure, including expenditure on 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; Provided that no amount shall be paid to any employee of the evacuee and no debt shall be paid to any person, unless the Custodian is satisfied that such amount or such debt, as the case may be, is due by the evacuee to such employee or such person, as the case may be; (j) pay to the evacuee, or to any member of his family or to such other person as in the opinion of the Custodian is entitled thereto, any sum of money out of the funds in his possession; (k) transfer in any manner whatsoever any evacuee property notwithstanding anything to the contrary contained in any law or agreement relating thereto: Provided that the Custodian shall not so transfer any immovable property or any business or other undertaking of the evacuee except with the previous approval of Government. Provided further that, unless otherwise directed by the Government, all sales of property shall be by public auction. (l) acquire any non-evacuee interest in evacuee property, whether by way of purchase or otherwise:— (ll) dispose of the claim of co-sharer or partner in any property by purchase of non-evacuee share or by sale of evacuee share, either to the co-sharer or to any other person, or by selling the entire property and distributing the sale proceeds to the claimant according to his share, or by partitioning the property, or take all such measures as he may consider necessary for the purpose of separating the interests of the evacuee from those of the claimants: Provided that the Custodian shall not pass any order under this clause unless the co-sharer or partner in the property has been given reasonable opportunity of being heard; (m) delegate, by general or special order, all or any of his functions under this Act to such officers or persons as may be prescribed. (n) invest any money held by him in such securities as may be prescribed: Provided that the Custodian shall not delegate any of his functions under clause (f) or clause (g) to any officer or person below the rank of an Assistant Custodian.

(1) Where any person is in arrears of rent in respect of any evacuee property vested in the Custodian, the Custodian may, by order, require that person to pay the same within such time and in such instalments, if any, as may be specified in the order. (2) Where any person is deemed to be holding any evacuee property on behalf of the Custodian, under sub-section (3) of section 6, the Custodian may, having regard to such principles of assessment of rent as may be prescribed, by order, assess the rent payable in respect of such property and that person shall be liable to pay the rent so assessed. (3) Where any person is, or has at any time been, in unauthorised possession of any evacuee property vested in the Custodian, the Custodian may, having regard to such principles of assessment of damages as may be prescribed assess the damages on account of the use and occupation of such property and may, by order, require that person to pay the damages within such time and in such instalments as may be specified in the order. (4) Where any person being in possession of any evacuee property vested in the Custodian has caused damage to any such property, the Custodian may assess the compensation payable on account of the damage so caused and may, by order, require that person to pay the compensation within such time and in such instalments as may be specified in the order. (5) No order shall be made under sub-section (2) or sub-section (3) or sub-section (4), until after the issue of a notice in writing to the person concerned calling upon him to show cause within such time as may be specified in the notice why such order should not be made and until his objections, if any, and any evidence he may produce in support of the same have been considered by the Custodian.

(1) Notwithstanding anything contained in any other law for the time being in force and save as provided in section 3 or in any agreement or contract, the Custodian may cancel any allotment or terminate any lease or amend the terms of any lease or agreement under which any evacuee property is held or occupied by a person (whether such allotment, lease or agreement was granted or entered into before or after the commencement of this Act): Provided that in the case of any lease granted before the relevant date the Custodian shall not exercise any of the powers conferred upon him under this sub-section unless he is satisfied that the lessee.— (a) has sublet, assigned or otherwise parted with the possession of the whole or any part of the property leased to him; or (b) has used or is using such property for a purpose other than that for which it was leased to him; or (c) has failed to pay rent in accordance with the terms of the lease. (2) Where the title or the right to possession of any evacuee property, as a tenant or otherwise, was on the relevant date the subject matter of any dispute, the right to possession shall be deemed to have vested in the Custodian as from the said date, notwithstanding anything contained in any other law for the time being in force or in any agreement or contract; and the person holding possession shall cease to be entitled to possession. (3) Where by reason of any action taken under sub-section (1) or sub-section (2), any person has ceased to be entitled to possession of any evacuee property, he shall on demand by the Custodian surrender possession of such property to the Custodian or to any person duly authorised by him in this behalf. (4) If any person fails to surrender possession of any property on demand under sub-section (3), the Custodian may, notwithstanding anything to the contrary contained in any other law for the time being in force, eject such person and take possession of such property in the manner provided in section 7.

(1) Notwithstanding anything to the contrary contained in this Act or in any other law for the time being in force, where tenancy rights have vested in the Custodian as evacuee property and the Custodian has granted a lease in respect of such property, the Custodian may, in any case where the lessor under whom the property was held immediately before it vested in the Custodian is not an evacuee, declare, by general or special order, that with effect from such date as may be specified in the order he shall stand absolved of all responsibilities with respect to the property or lease granted by him. (2) On the making of any such declaration as is referred to in sub-section (1) — (a) the lease granted by the Custodian shall be deemed to have effect as if granted by the lessor under whom the property was held immediately before the Custodian assumed possession or control thereof and shall continue to have such effect until it is determined by lapse of time or by operation of law; (b) all sums realised by the Custodian in respect of the said lease before the date of the declaration referred to in sub-section (1) shall, subject to the deduction of fees, if any, payable to the Custodian, become payable to the lessor against whom the lease has no effect. (3) Nothing contained in this section shall— (a) be deemed to empower the Custodian to grant, without the consent in writing of the original lessor or his successor in interest— (i) where the original lease is for a specified period, any lease for a period extending beyond the date on which the original lease would have expired; or (ii) where the original lease is from year to year or month to month or on any other similar tenure, any lease on a tenure different from that of the original lease. (b) render the Custodian liable to any person for any sum in excess of the sum payable to the lessor under clause (b) of sub-section (2); or (c) prejudice any rights of the lessor or the lessee, to which he may be entitled under any other law for the time being in force, consistently with the terms and conditions, if any, of the lease granted by the Custodian.

(1) Any amount due to any evacuee in respect of any property which has vested in the Custodian or in respect of any transaction entered into by the evacuee, shall be paid to the Custodian by the person liable to pay the same. (2) Any payment made otherwise than in accordance with sub-section (1) shall not discharge the person paying it from his obligation to pay the amount due, and shall not affect the right of the Custodian to enforce such obligation against any such person.

Any expenditure incurred by the Custodian in the exercise of any power conferred by or under this Act shall, in relation to any evacuee property in respect of which it has been incurred, be a charge on such property and shall, subject to the provision of section 42, have priority over all other charges on the property, and such expenditure may be met or recouped by the Custodian out of the income accruing from such property or the sale proceeds thereof.

(1) The Custodian shall maintain a separate account of the property of each evacuee possession whereof has been taken by him, and shall cause to be made therein entries of all receipts and expenditure in respect thereof. (2) The accounts shall be maintained in such form and in such manner as may be prescribed. (3) The Government shall cause the accounts maintained under this section to be inspected and audited at such intervals and by such person as may be prescribed.

(1) Save as provided under section (3) and subject to such rules as may be made in this behalf, any evacuee or any person claiming to be an heir of an evacuee may apply to Government or to any person authorised by it in this behalf (hereinafter in this section referred to as the authorized person) that any evacuee property which has vested in the Custodian and to which the applicant would have been entitled if this Act were not in force, may be restored to him. (2) On receipt of an application under sub-section (1) Government or the authorized person, as the case may be, shall cause public notice thereof to be given in the prescribed manner, and after causing an inquiry into the claim to be held in such manner as may be prescribed, shall — (a) if satisfied — (i) that the conditions prescribed by rules made in this behalf have been satisfied, (ii) that the evacuee property is the property of the applicant, and (iii) that it is just or proper that the evacuee property should be restored to him, make an order restoring the property to the applicant, or (b) if not so satisfied, reject the application: Provided that where the application is rejected on the ground that the evacuee property is not the property of the applicant, the rejection of the application shall not prejudice the right of the applicant to establish his title to the property in a Civil Court, or (c) if there is any doubt with respect to the title of the applicant to the property, refer him to a Civil Court for the determination of his title: Provided that no order for the restoration of any evacuee property shall be made under this sub-section unless provision has been made in the prescribed manner for the recovery of any amount due to the Custodian in respect of the property or the management thereof. (3) Upon the restoration of the property to the evacuee or to the heir, as the case may be, the Custodian shall stand absolved of all responsibilities in respect of the property, so restored, but such restoration shall not prejudice the rights, if any, in respect of the property which any other person may be entitled to enforce against the person to whom the property has been so restored: Provided that every lease granted in respect of the property by or on behalf of the Custodian shall have effect against the person to whom restoration is made until such lease is determined by lapse of time or by operation of law. (4) The Custodian shall, on demand furnish to the evacuee or to the heir, as the case may be, a statement containing an abstract of the account of the income received and expenditure incurred in respect of the property, and such other particulars as may be required by him and as the circumstances may permit. (5) Where the property had been sold by the Custodian or acquired by Government under any law, the provisions in the foregoing sub-sections shall apply to the net sale proceeds or, as the case may be, the net compensation hereof.