Chapter III ASSUMPTION OF SUPERINTENDENCE OF PERSONS AND PROPERTY

The following proprietors shall be deemed to be disqualified for the management of their property:-(a) minors; (b) proprietors adjudged by a competent civil court to be of unsound mind and incapable of managing their property; (c) proprietors declared by the Government to be incapable of managing their property owing to any physical or mental defect or infirmity rendering them unfit to manage their property.

Whenever a Collector receivers information that a proprietor of land situated in his district has died, and he has reason to believe that the heir of such proprietor is, or should be declared to be, disqualified under section 8,-(a) he may take such steps and make such order as he thinks proper for the temporary custody and protection of the property which he has reason to believe to belong to the heir; (b) if the heir be a minor, he may direct that the person, if any, having custody of the minor, shall produce him or cause him to be produced, at such place and time, and before such person, as he appoints, and may make such order for the temporary custody and protection of the minor, as he thinks proper:Provided that female minors, who ought not to be compelled to appear in public, shall be produced in accordance with the manners and customs applicable to them.

All expenses incurred by a Collector, acting under section 9, shall, whether the property is afterwards taken under the superintendence of the court or not, form a charge upon the property concerned, and shall be recoverable from the owner of such property, or the person whom the collector shall find to be in possession of such property, as arrears of land revenue.

Whenever any collector, after making such inquiry as he deems necessary, has reason to believe that any proprietor in his district is, or should be declared to be, disqualified under section 8, he shall submit a report to the court setting forth all the circumstances of the case:Provided that the said property is of such value that its economic management by the court is practicable:Provided further that the court or the Government may call for a report on any case if in its or their opinion it is necessary to do so.

(1) Before reporting to the court under section 11 that a proprietor ought to be declared to be disqualified under clause (c) of section 8, the Collector shall give notice to such proprietor and afford him a reasonable opportunity to be heard and to adduce evidence. (2) All questions as to whether the provisions of this section have been complied with shall be decided finally by the Government.

The court shall consider the Collector's report and, except in the case of female proprietors, not being minors, whom it decides to leave in charge of their property, shall report the case to the Government with its recommendations and pending the receipt of orders, shall have power to take such steps, as it may deem necessary, for the protection of the person and property of the proprietor in question.

The Government, on receipt of the court's recommendation, may, in any case falling under clause (c) of section 8, declare the proprietor to be disqualified, and, in every case falling under section 8, any order the court to assume the superintendence of the person or property of the proprietor or of both.

The Government shall not declare any proprietor to be disqualified under clause (c) of section 8, unless satisfied that it is expedient in the public interest that the property should be managed by the court, and a statement to that effect shall be inserted in the declaration made by the Government under section 14.

(1) The Government shall not, except under section 17, order the court to take the property of any undivided Hindu family, Marumakkathayam tarwad, Aliyasantana family or Nambudiri family under its superintendence, unless all the coparceners, members of the tarwad or members of the family, as the case may be, are, or are declared to be, disqualified under section 8. ( 2) When two or more proprietors are co-sharers, otherwise than as coparceners in an undivided Hindu family or as members of a Marumakkathayam tarwad, Aliyasantana family or Nambudiri family, as the case may be, and one of such co-sharers is, or is declared to be, disqualified under section 8, the Government may order the court to institute a suit for partition on behalf of the disqualified proprietor and to take under its superintendence the property allotted to such proprietor in the partition.

(1) A proprietor may apply to the Government to have his property placed under the superintendence of the Court, and the Government may, on being satisfied that it is expedient in the public interest that such property should be managed by the court, and that the said property is of such value that its economic management by the court is practicable, make a declaration to that effect and order the court to assume the superintendence of such property. (2) In the case of any undivided Hindu family, Marumakkathayam tarwad, Aliyasantana family or Nambudiri family, an application signed by a majority of the corparceners or a majority of the members of such tarwad or family, as the case may be, shall, for the purposes of sub-section (1), be deemed to be an application by a proprietor in respect of the whole of the property of the family or tarwad. Explanation .-Nothing in this section shall be deemed to prevent any coparcener or member of such tarwad or family not signing such application from obtaining partition of his share, whether by suit or otherwise.

(1) Whenever under section 14 or section 17 the Government order the court to take under its superintendence the person or property of a proprietor or both, such other of the Government, together with any declaration made under section 14 or section 17, as the case may be, shall be notified in the Gazette. The notification shall specify the Collector who shall discharge the duties imposed upon a Collector by this Act in respect of such person or property or both, as the case may be, (2) Such proprietor shall be deemed to have become a ward under the court from the date of the said order of the Government; and the superintendence of his person or property or of both shall take effect from the said date, and, as to property, shall extend to all movable and immovable property belonging to him at the date of the order, and to which he shall afterwards become in any way entitled while he continues under such superintendence: Provided that it shall be in the discretion of the court to assume or refrain from assuming the superintendence of any property which the ward may acquire otherwise than by inheritance subsequent to the date of the order of the Government under section 14 or section 17.