Report of the Royal Commission on Labour in India

Bibliographic data

Monograph

Identifikator:: 1850495947

URN:: urn:nbn:de:zbw-retromon-233603

Document type:: Monograph

Title:: Report of the Royal Commission on Labour in India

Place of publication:: London

Publisher:: His Majesty's Stationery Off.

Year of publication:: 1931

Scope:: xviii, 580 S.; graph. Darst., Kt.

Digitisation:: 2022

Collection:: Economics Books

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Document type:: Monograph

Structure type:: Chapter

Title:: Chapter XIII. - Indebtedness

Collection:: Economics Books

INDEBTEDNESS. 233 to the recovery of such sums as the borrower can reasonably repay in a limited period of time. Probably there is no method which is entirely secure against evasion on the part of the lender or misuse on the part of the borrower. But we would repeat that these possibilities are not in themselves a sufficient argument against the adoption of a law that will be generally beneficial, and it is certain that until some method can be applied, the State will fail to satisfy one of the pressing needs of labour. Of the scheme which appears to us to offer the greatest hope of successful working, little more than an outline is possible here. We recognise the intricacy of the subject, but if the will to apply the remedy is present, the legal and administrative difficulties can be sur- mounted. Summary Liquidation Proceedings. ‘We recommend a new procedure for the liquidation of unsecured debts due from workmen. We contemplate that on the presentation of an application by a workman giving a statement of his debts and creditors and assets, the court should issue a notice to the creditors and should thereafter in a summary enquiry estimate the workman’s assets, his probable earnings and reasonable expenditure for the main- tenance of himself and his family during the ensuing two years. The court, having assessed these, would issue a decree based on the difference between the two sums. Execution of this decree could then be obtained in the usual way, but it should not be possible to keep the decree alive for more than three years in all. In order to prevent the defrauding of money-lenders by the subsequent contraction of collusive debts, we suggest that the debts should rank preferentially in order of their age, the oldest debts having priority. The application for the benefit of the special Act embodying the procedure might be made either In response to a suit for debt or without any previous proceedings. We should like to see the duty laid on the court of applying the special Act of its own motion in cases where it appeared to be applicable, but we recognise the difficulty of securing that such a provision will be effective ; and there is no doubt that persons will be forthcoming to assist the work- Wan in claiming his privileges. What is essential is that the procedure should be rapid and as free as possible from the intricacies and technical- lies of ordinary civil court procedure. A New Law. Co The procedure suggested bears some resemblance to proceedings In insolvency courts, but we are anxious that, if a law is passed, it should be a new Act with a new procedure and as far as possible unrelated to Insolvency Acts. Insolvency has somewhat unfortunate associations, and it is necessary to seek an entirely new avenue of approach. In Insolvency proceedings there is an inevitable tendency on the part of the court to regard itself as charged primarily with the duty of assisting the creditors and of checking fraud on the part of petitioners. In the case of loans which are obviously beyond the capacity of the labourer to repay it is not unfair to regard the creditor as the person

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