HC Deb 03 April 1914 vol 60 cc1507-8W
Mr. TOUCHE

asked the Under-Secretary of State for India if the protection to traders in India arising from the right of a judgment creditor to apply for notice to issue to the judgment debtor to show cause why he should not be committed to prison, which commitment amounts to an act of insolvency, applies in the case of all judgment debtors, or is any part of the civil or military community exempted, either by implication from various provisions in the Procedure Code, or by the practice of the Courts in the exercise of their discretion; and, in the case of such exempted persons, if any, will he say in what respect their creditors have a remedy as effective as the bankruptcy procedure of this country, and not dissimilar from it?

Mr. C. ROBERTS

No class of the community, other than women, is exempted by the Indian Civil Procedure Code from arrest or civil detention for non-payment of a judgment debt. The Court has discretion to disallow an application for such arrest or detention only where the judgment debtor from poverty or other sufficient cause is unable to pay the debt. A creditor would not, in respect of either of those classes of debtor, appear to be better off under the bankruptcy procedure of this country.