Powers and duties of the Custodian generally

(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.