Chapter V ASCERTAINMENT AND SETTLEMENT OF DEBTS

(1) On the publication of a notification under section 18, the Collector therein specified may, at any time, with the previous sanction of the Government, publish in the Gazette a notice in English and in Malayalam or in such regional language as he may consider necessary calling upon all persons having pecuniary claims, whether immediately enforceable or not against the ward or his property, to notify the same in writing to the Collector within six months from the date of such notification. (2) The notice shall also be published at such places and in such other manner as the court may, by general or special order, direct and shall be sent by registered post to every person who is known to the Collector as having a pecuniary claim against the ward or his property and of whose address the Collector is credibly informed. (3) The Government may at any stage of the proceedings under this section and sections 37 and 39 invest any person either by name or by virtue of his office with the powers of a collector for any or all of the purposes of these sections. Explanation .-A claim shall be deemed to be pecuniary for the purposes of this section and sections 37 and 40 notwithstanding that a suit for its enforcement or a reference of such claim to arbitration is pending or that a decree or award has been passed establishing the same.

(1) Every such claimant shall, within the period prescribed by section 36, notify to the collector in writing his claim with full particulars thereof: Provided that any claim presented after the expiration of such period and within a further period of six months may be admitted if the claimant satisfies the Collector that he had sufficient cause for not notifying the claim at an earlier date. (2) Every document (including entries in books of account) in the possession of or under the control of the claimant on which he founds his claim shall be produced before the Collector with the statement of claim or within such time after the perferring of the claim as may be allowed by the Collector in that behalf: Provided that if the claim relates to an amount secured by a decree or award, it shall be sufficient for the claimant to produce before the Collector a certified copy of the decree and a certificate from the court which passed or is executing the same declaring the amount recoverable thereunder or a true copy of the award and a statement of the sum recoverable thereunder, as the case may be; and if the claim is pending adjudication in any court or has been referred to arbitration, it shall be sufficient for the claimant to produce a certified copy of the plaint or a true copy of the reference to arbitration as the case may be. (3) It shall be lawful for the Collector to require the production by any claimant of such of the documents in his possession or power relating to his claim, other than the documents, if any, produced under sub-section (2), as the Collector may consider necessary. (4) Unless the Collector shall otherwise direct, every document produced under this section shall be accompanied by a true copy thereof. The Collector shall mark the original document for the purpose of identification and, after examining and comparing the copy with it, shall retain the copy and return the original to be claimant.

Nothing contained in sections 36 and 37 shall apply to any pecuniary claim of the Government or any local authority, or to claims for maintenance or for wages or salaries due to servants.

The Collector shall, after making such inquiry as he may deem fit, decide which claims notified or admitted under section 37 are to be allowed in whole or in part, and which are to be disallowed, and, on his decision being confirmed by the court, shall give written notice of the same to the claimants: Provided that nothing herein contained shall be construed as precluding any claimant from continuing or instituting proceedings in any civil court in respect of any claim, whether such claim be allowed or disallowed by the Court of Wards in whole or in part.

Every pecuniary claim against the ward or his property which has not been duly notified to, or admitted by, the Collector under section 37 shall, notwithstanding any law, contract, decree or award to the contrary, cease to carry interest from the expiration of the period prescribed by section 36, and shall not be paid until after the discharge or satisfaction of the claims notified or admitted under section 37.

No document in the possession or under the control of the claimant which should have been but has not been produced in accordance with the requirements of section 37, shall be admissible in evidence against the ward or his representative in any suit brought by or against the claimant, or any person claiming under him, unless it be proved to the satisfaction of the civil court that it was not within his power to produce such document before the Collector.

(1) When any property of a ward is in the possession of a mortgagee, or any person claiming under a mortgagee, the Government may, on being satisfied that it is expedient in the public interest that the estate should be preserved and such incumbrancer should deliver up possession of the mortgaged property, make a declaration to that effect, and direct the court to take possession thereof; the court shall thereupon, by an order in writing, require such incumbrancer to deliver up possession of the same to the manager at the end of the then current financial year. (2) If such incumbrancer refuses or neglect to obey such order, the Collector may, without resorting to a civil court, enter upon the property, and summarily evict therefrom the said incumbrancer and any other person obstructing or resisting on his behalf. (3) The dispossession of the incumbrancer under sub-sections (1) and (2) shall not deprive him of any right for the recovery of arrears of rent due to him at the date of his dispossession. (4) If in the instrument of mortgage under which the incumbrancer is in possession of the property, no rate of interest is specified, the Collector shall, in cases where the mortgage debt has been notified to or admitted by him, offer to the incumbrancer the rate of interest which appears to him to be reasonable; and pass an order fixing the rate accordingly. Copy of the order shall be served upon the incumbrancer in the manner prescribed by the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 (5 of 1908), for service of summons upon a defendant. If the incumbrancer is dissatisfied with the rate of interest so fixed, he may, within three months from the date of service upon him of such order, institute a suit against the ward in the District Court within whose jurisdiction the property mortgaged or any portion thereof is situate, and the said court shall, if the mortgage debt has been notified or admitted as aforesaid, pass a declaratory decree fixing such rate of interest as it may deem reasonable. If no such suit be instituted within the said period, the incumbrancer shall be deemed to have agreed to the rate fixed by the Collector. (5) If an incumbrancer is dispossessed of property under this section, he shall be entitled to recover the amount due to him under the instrument of mortgage on the date of such dispossession together with- (a) interest as from that date, on the principal money outstanding on such date at the rate stipulated in the instrument of mortgage or, if there is no such stipulation, at the rate fixed under sub-section (4), and (c) any amount to which he may, in case of dispossession, be entitled under the instrument of mortgage or under any law for the time being in force,in the same manner as if-- (i) he were a simple mortgagee of such property under the said instrument, and (ii) the entire money as computed above were advanced by way of loan under the said instrument: Provided that the rights of the incumbrancer under this sub-section shall be subject to- (a) the provisions of section 40; and (b) the charges specified in Classes I and II in section 31, except those relating to the liquidation of debts payable by the ward and to the upkeep of the furniture, equipage, livestock and other movable property belonging to the ward. (6) The Collector shall, as soon as conveniently may be after the expiration of the financial year commencing with the date of such dispossession and of every successive financial year, declare, subject to the approval of the court the gross annual rents and profits realised from such property, the several heads of expenditure and the balance, and such declaration shall be conclusive evidence of the statements therein contained. A copy of such declaration shall be furnished to be dispossessed incumbrancer free of charge.