Punjab Relief of Indebtedness Ordinance, 1960

From: 1960-04-27 - To: 0000-00-00 An Ordinance to amend and consolidate the law relating to the relief of indebtedness in the province of [3][the Punjab] Preamble.— WHEREAS it is expedient to amend and consolidate the law relating to the relief of indebtedness in the province of [4][the Punjab]; Now, THEREFORE, in pursuance of the Presidential Proclamation of the seventh day of October, 1958, and having received the previous instructions of the President, the Governor of West Pakistan is pleased, in exercise of all powers enabling him in that behalf, to make and promulgate the following Ordinance:- 1. Short title and extent.— (1) This Ordinance may be called the [5][Punjab] Relief of Indebtedness Ordinance, 1960. [6][(2) It extends to the whole of the province of [7][the Punjab], except the tribal areas.] 2. Definitions.— In this Ordinance, unless the context otherwise requires, the following expressions shall have the meanings hereby respectively assigned to them, that is to say— (a) “Court” or “Civil Court” includes a Court of insolvency, a receiver appointed under the Provincial Insolvency Act, 1920[8], and an arbitrator appointed with the consent of the parties or by an order of a Court; (b) “debt” includes all liabilities of a debtor in cash or in kind, secured or unsecured, payable under a decree or order of a Civil Court or otherwise, whether mature or not, but shall not include debts incurred for the purposes of trade, arrears of wages, land-revenue or anything recoverable as arrears of land-revenue, or taxes or rates payable to Government or any local authority, or any debt which is barred by the law of limitation or a debt due to a co-operative bank, co-operative society or any banking company registered under the Companies Act, 1913[9], or any bank which is a “Scheduled bank” as defined in the State Bank of Pakistan Act, 1956[10]; (c) “debtor” means a person who owes a debt; and— (i) who both earns his livelihood mainly by agriculture and is either a land-owner or tenant of agricultural land; or (ii) who earns his livelihood as a village artisan paid in cash or kind for work connected with agriculture; or (iii) whose total assets do not exceed five…