Time within which secured creditors and maintenance-holders may file claims

(1) (a) Every creditor, whose debt is secured by the mortgage of, or is a charge on any estate, or estates or part thereof, vested in the State Government under Section 3, or Section 3-A may, within six months from the date of such vesting or from the date on which such creditor is dispossessed under the provisions of clause (h) of Section 5 or within three months from the date of appointment of the Claims Officer, whichever date is latter, notify in the prescribed manner, his claim in writing to a Claims Officer to be appointed by the State Government for the purpose of determining the amount of debt legally and justly payable to each such creditor in respect of his claim. (b) Every maintenance-holder in an estate, succession to which is governed by the law of primogeniture, who is in receipt of a monetary allowance in lieu of maintenance, which is a charge on the estate or part thereof vested in the State Government under Section 3, may within the period specified in clause (a) notify in the prescribed manner to the Claims Officer in writing his claim for maintenance and the amount of allowance which he is entitled to receive therefore. Explanation I – For the purpose of this section, a usufructuary mortgage or a lease executed in lieu of advances made, or a dower debt of a widow in lieu of which she is in possession of an estate shall be deemed to be a debt secured by mortgage. Explanation II – Different Claims Officers may be appointed for different areas. (2) The Claims Officer shall be – (a) a District Judge, if the claim notified under sub-section (1) exceeds Rs. 10,000; (b) a Subordinate Judge, if such claim does not exceed Rs. 10,000 : Provided that in a district where there is no Subordinate Judge, the Claims Officer may be a Munsif if such claim does not exceed Rs. 4,000, and a District Judge if such claim exceeds Rs. 4,000 : Provided further that any proceedings pending before a District Judge in pursuance of this sub-section prior to the date of commencement of the Orissa Estates Abolition (Amendment) Act, 1956 (Orissa Act 15 of 1956) shall in relation to a claim to which the foregoing proviso applies, stand transferred to the Claims Officer if any, appointed in accordance with the said proviso who shall proceed to hear such claim from the stage at which it stood transferred. (3) Where the claim of a creditor is in respect of more than one estate situate within the jurisdiction of different Claims Officers, the claim shall be notified by him to any one of such Claims Officers : Provided that claims of a creditor in respect of more than one estate situate within the jurisdiction of different Claims Officer which are pending on the date of commencement of the Orissa Estates Abolition (Second Amendment) Act, 1957 (Orissa Act 3 of 1958) shall on application by the creditor stand transferred to any one of such Claims Officer at the option of the creditor. An application in this behalf shall be filed before the Claims Officer or Officers from whose jurisdiction the matter is intended to be transferred. (4) Every claim of the nature referred to in sub-section (1) which is not duly notified to the Claims Officer within the time and in the manner mentioned in the said sub-section shall be barred; Provided that, when the Claims Officer is satisfied that the claimant was prevented by any sufficient cause from complying with the provisions of the said sub-section, he may admit his claim within a further period of two months from the expiration of the said period of six months or three months, as the case may be.