Property Liable to Attachment and Sale in Execution of a Decree
The master list of attachable property — and the long proviso (a)–(p) that shields the tools of life and livelihood, wages, pensions and funds from the decree-holder’s reach.
How to read Section 60
Sub-section (1) makes all saleable property of the judgment-debtor — or property he can dispose of for his own benefit — liable to attachment and sale.
A long proviso then exempts (a) to (p): necessaries, tools, an agriculturist’s means, books, wages, part of salary, pensions, provident funds, insurance, future maintenance, and more.
The exemptions cannot be waived by agreement (IA); buildings are still attachable for rent decrees (2); and many heavily-amended figures are explained by Explanations I–VI.
The bare Act
(1) The following property is liable to attachment and sale in execution of a decree, namely, lands, houses or other buildings, goods, money, bank-notes, cheques, bills of exchange, hundis, promissory notes, Government securities, bonds or other securities for money, debts, shares in a corporation and, save as hereinafter mentioned, all other saleable property, movable or immovable, belonging to the judgment-debtor, or over which, or the profits of which, he has a disposing power which he may exercise for his own benefit, whether the same be held in the name of the judgment-debtor or by another person in trust for him or on his behalf:
Provided that the following particulars shall not be liable to such attachment or sale, namely:—
(a) the necessary wearing-apparel, cooking vessels, beds and bedding of the judgment-debtor, his wife and children, and such personal ornaments as, in accordance with religious usage, cannot be parted with by any woman;
(b) tools of artisans, and, where the judgment-debtor is an agriculturist, his implements of husbandry and such cattle and seed-grain as may, in the opinion of the Court, be necessary to enable him to earn his livelihood as such, and such portion of agricultural produce or of any class of agricultural produce as may have been declared to be free from liability under the provisions of the next following section;
(c) houses and other buildings (with the materials and the sites thereof and the land immediately appurtenant thereto and necessary for their enjoyment) belonging to an agriculturist or a labourer or a domestic servant and occupied by him;
(d) books of account;
(e) a mere right to sue for damages;
(f) any right of personal service;
(g) stipends and gratuities allowed to pensioners of the Government or of a local authority or of any other employer, or payable out of any service family pension fund notified in the Official Gazette by the Central Government or the State Government in this behalf, and political pensions;
(h) the wages of labourers and domestic servants, whether payable in money or in kind;
(i) salary to the extent of the first one thousand rupees and two-thirds of the remainder in execution of any decree other than a decree for maintenance:
Provided that where any part of such portion of the salary as is liable to attachment has been under attachment, whether continuously or intermittently, for a total period of twenty-four months, such portion shall be exempt from attachment until the expiry of a further period of twelve months, and, where such attachment has been made in execution of one and the same decree, shall, after the attachment has continued for a total period of twenty-four months, be finally exempt from attachment in execution of that decree;
(ia) one-third of the salary in execution of any decree for maintenance;
(j) the pay and allowances of persons to whom the Air Force Act, 1950 (45 of 1950) or the Army Act, 1950 (46 of 1950), or the Navy Act, 1957 (62 of 1957), applies;
(k) all compulsory deposits and other sums in or derived from any fund to which the Provident Funds Act, 1925 (19 of 1925), for the time being applies in so far as they are declared by the said Act not to be liable to attachment;
(ka) all deposits and other sums in or derived from any fund to which the Public Provident Fund Act, 1968 (23 of 1968), for the time being applies, in so far as they are declared by the said Act as not to be liable to attachment;
(kb) all moneys payable under a policy of insurance on the life of the judgment-debtor;
(kc) the interest of a lessee of a residential building to which the provisions of law for the time being in force relating to control of rents and accommodation apply;
(l) any allowance forming part of the emoluments of any servant of the Government or of any servant of a railway company or local authority which the appropriate Government may by notification in the Official Gazette declare to be exempt from attachment, and any subsistence grant or allowance made to any such servant while under suspension;
(m) an expectancy of succession by survivorship or other merely contingent or possible right or interest;
(n) a right to future maintenance;
(o) any allowance declared by any Indian law to be exempt from liability to attachment or sale in execution of a decree; and
(p) where the judgment-debtor is a person liable for the payment of land-revenue, any movable property which, under any law for the time being applicable to him, is exempt from sale for the recovery of an arrear of such revenue.
Explanation I.—The moneys payable in relation to the matters mentioned in clauses (g), (h), (i), (ia), (j), (l) and (o) are exempt from attachment or sale, whether before or after they are actually payable, and, in the case of salary, the attachable portion thereof is liable to attachment whether before or after it is actually payable.
Explanation II.—In clauses (i) and (ia), “salary” means the total monthly emoluments, excluding any allowance declared exempt from attachment under the provisions of clause (l), derived by a person from his employment whether on duty or on leave.
Explanation III.—In clause (l) “appropriate Government” means—
(i) as respects any person in the service of the Central Government, or any servant of a Railway Administration or of a cantonment authority or of the port authority of a major port, the Central Government;
(iii) as respects any other servant of the Government or a servant of any other local authority, the State Government.
Explanation IV.—For the purposes of this proviso, “wages” includes bonus, and “labourer” includes a skilled, unskilled or semi-skilled labourer.
Explanation V.—For the purposes of this proviso, the expression “agriculturist” means a person who cultivates land personally and who depends for his livelihood mainly on the income from agricultural land, whether as owner, tenant, partner or agricultural labourer.
Explanation VI.—For the purposes of Explanation V, an agriculturist shall be deemed to cultivate land personally, if he cultivates land—
(a) by his own labour, or
(b) by the labour of any member of his family, or
(c) by servants or labourers on wages payable in cash or in kind (not being as a share of the produce), or both.
(1A) Notwithstanding anything contained in any other law for the time being in force, an agreement by which a person agrees to waive the benefit of any exemption under this section shall be void.
(2) Nothing in this section shall be deemed to exempt houses and other buildings (with the materials and the sites thereof and the lands immediately appurtenant thereto and necessary for their enjoyment) from attachment or sale in execution of decrees for rent of any such house, building, site or land.
§ 60 is one of the most heavily amended sections of the Code. Principal amendments: Act 10 of 1914 (omitted original clauses); Act 9 of 1937 & the A.O. 1937 / 1948 / 1950 (recast clauses (h)–(l) and the Explanations, adapted “Government”); Act 5 of 1943; Act 66 of 1956 (24-month salary proviso); Act 26 of 1963; Act 104 of 1976, s. 23 (clauses (c), (ia), Explanations recast, &c., w.e.f. 1-2-1977); and Act 46 of 1999, s. 6 (salary figure raised to “one thousand rupees”, w.e.f. 1-7-2002). The full sequence is in the timeline below.
Key terms decoded
The legal seizure / freezing of property in execution, so it cannot be transferred — the step before sale.
Property capable of being sold — the touchstone of what § 60(1) catches (movable or immovable).
Even if the title is not the debtor’s, property he can deal with for his own gain is attachable — including benami property held by another “in trust for him or on his behalf”.
One who cultivates land personally (own / family / hired labour, not on a produce-share) and lives mainly on farm income — his tools, cattle, seed & home are protected.
Total monthly emoluments (less exempt clause-(l) allowances) — the first ₹1,000 + two-thirds of the rest is exempt (one-third only, for maintenance decrees).
Sums in a Provident Fund (1925) or Public Provident Fund (1968) that those Acts declare un-attachable — clauses (k) & (ka).
The exemptions (a)–(p), at a glance
The proviso’s sixteen lettered exemptions fall into five families — all protecting life, livelihood and dependants from the decree:
- (a) wearing-apparel, cooking vessels, beds & bedding (debtor, wife, children); a woman’s religious ornaments
- (b) artisan’s tools; an agriculturist’s implements, cattle, seed-grain
- (c) the home of an agriculturist / labourer / domestic servant, occupied by him
- (d) books of account · (f) a right of personal service
- (h) wages of labourers & domestic servants
- (i) salary — first ₹1,000 + two-thirds of the remainder
- (ia) only one-third attachable for a maintenance decree
- (g) stipends, gratuities & political pensions · (j) armed-forces pay
- (k) Provident Fund (1925) · (ka) Public Provident Fund (1968)
- (kb) life-insurance moneys · (l) notified Govt-servant allowances / suspension subsistence
- (e) a mere right to sue for damages · (m) an expectancy / contingent right
- (n) a right to future maintenance · (kc) a rent-controlled lessee’s interest
- (o) allowances exempt by Indian law · (p) a land-revenue payer’s exempt movables
Section 60, part by part
The rule, the sixteen exemptions, the Explanations, and the two safeguards — each dissected. Open any tab:
Sub-section (1) casts the net — everything saleable, owned or merely controlled by the debtor.
Clauses (a)–(f) shield the necessaries of life and the means of a livelihood.
Clauses (g)–(l) protect wages, salary, pensions and funds — the income people live on.
Clauses (m)–(p) shield future or contingent rights and a few special cases.
Explanations I–VI define the terms and fix the timing of the exemptions.
Two safeguards close the section — the shield cannot be waived, and a home is no refuge from its own rent.
How the parts of § 60 work as one body
§ 60 is a net and a sieve. Sub-section (1) throws the net wide — everything saleable, and even property the debtor merely controls or holds benami. The proviso (a)–(p) is the sieve, letting through the tools of survival and dignity — clothes, a worker’s tools, a farmer’s cattle, wages, pensions, provident funds, the right to future maintenance. The Explanations calibrate the sieve; (1A) welds it shut against waiver; and (2) re-opens one mesh — a home is no refuge against a decree for its own rent. Recovery is real, but never at the cost of leaving a debtor destitute.
Amendment history — a timeline
Few sections have been re-worked as often as § 60. The exemptions — especially the salary figure — were repeatedly modernised:
Note: separate State amendments (set out below) further widen the exemptions in Kerala, Himachal Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh.
State amendments — wider shields in five States
Several States have added to the § 60 exemptions for their own debtors. Each widens the proviso’s protection:
In clause (g) of the proviso, after the words “stipends and gratuities allowed to pensioners of the Government”, the words “or of a local authority” shall be inserted. [Vide Kerala Act 13 of 1957, sec. 3.]
After clause (g), the following clause shall be inserted: “(gg) all moneys payable to the beneficiaries under the Family Benefit Scheme for the employees of the Government of Kerala.” [Vide Kerala Act 1 of 1988, sec. 2.]
Effect shields local-authority pensioners and the Family Benefit Scheme moneys of Kerala Government employees from attachment.
(i) At the end of clause (c), add: “or compensation paid for such houses and buildings (including compensation for the materials and the sites and the land referred to above) acquired for a public purpose”.
(ii) After clause (c), insert clause (cc): “compensation paid for agricultural lands belonging to agriculturists and acquired for a public purpose”. [Vide Himachal Pradesh Act 6 of 1956, sec. 2.]
Effect extends the home / land exemptions to the acquisition compensation for an agriculturist’s or labourer’s house and for farm land taken for a public purpose — so the debtor is not stripped of the money that replaces a protected asset.
In clause (g) of the proviso, after the words “stipends and gratuities allowed to pensioners of the Government”, the words “or of a local authority” shall be inserted. [Vide Tamil Nadu Act XXXIV of 1950, s. 2.]
Effect protects the pensions and gratuities of local-authority pensioners, not only Government pensioners. (The central clause (g) was later widened to similar effect by the 1976 Amendment.)
In clause (b), after the word “agriculturist”, the words “his milch cattle and those likely to calve within two years” shall be inserted. [Vide Rajasthan Act 19 of 1958, s. 2.]
(i) After clause (k), insert clause (kk): “moneys payable under Life Insurance Certificates issued in pursuance of the Rajasthan Government Servants Insurance Rules, 1953”; and (ii) after Explanation 3, insert Explanation 4: “Where any money payable to a Government servant of the State is exempt under clause (kk), such money shall remain exempt notwithstanding that, owing to the death of the Government servant, it is payable to some other person.” [Vide Rajasthan Act 16 of 1957, s. 2.]
Effect protects a farmer’s milch cattle (and those soon to calve) and the State servants’ insurance-certificate moneys — the latter staying exempt even when, on the servant’s death, they pass to his family.
After Explanation (1), insert Explanation (I-A): “Particulars mentioned in clause (c) are exempt from sale in execution of a decree, whether passed before or after the commencement of the amending Act, for enforcement of a mortgage or charge thereon.” [Vide Uttar Pradesh Act XXXV of 1948, s. 2.]
Effect strengthens the clause-(c) home exemption in U.P. — an agriculturist’s / labourer’s / domestic servant’s occupied house is exempt from sale even to enforce a mortgage or charge over it.
All five State amendments pull the same way — enlarging what is exempt, never shrinking it — consistent with § 60’s protective purpose and the non-waiver rule in (1A).
How § 60 connects
§ 60 supplies the substance of attachment & sale that § 51(b) authorises; the procedure is Order XXI. The live links open what is covered.