The prohibition against the attachment of provident fund money under Sec.3 of the Provident Funds Act of 1925 is absolute and cannot be overridden by the general provisions of the Criminal Law Amendment Ordinance (Ordinance No. XXXVIII of 1944).

Ramaswami, J.

1. In this case an application was made on be-half of the State Government under Sec.3 of the Criminal Law Amendment Ordinance (Ordinance No. XXXVIII of 1944) Praying for attachment of certain properties of Sri N. K. Banerji. The money standing in the Provident Fund Account No. G. A. O-54 of Sri N. K. Banerji was also proceeded against and a prayer was made for attachment of this amount. The Judicial Commissioner of Chota Nagpur granted the application for an interim attachment.

The Accountant-General of Bihar filed an objection stating that the provident fund money of Sri N. K, Banerjee was not liable to be attached in view of Sec.3 of the Provident Funds Act of 1925 (Act No. XIX of 1925). A similar objection was also filed by Sri N. K. Banerjee objecting to the attachment, The Judicial Commissioner of Chota Nagpur investigated into the matter and, after rejecting the objections of Sri N. K. Banerjee and the Accountant-General of Bihar, made the ad interim order of attachment absolute under Sec-tion 5, Sub-section (3), or Ordinance No. XXXVIII of 1944.

2. This appeal is presented on behalf of Sri N. K. Banerjee against the order of the Judicial Commissioner of Chota Nagpur under Sec.11 of Ordinance No. XXXVIII of 1944.

3. The question for determination in this appeal is whether the provident fund money of Sri N. K. Banerjee can be lawfully attached under Sections 3, 4, and 5 of Ordinance No. XXXVIII of 1944. It was submitted on behalf of the appellant that the Judicial Commissioner of Chota Nagpur had no authority to attach the Provident fund amount in view of the absolute prohibition contained in Sec.3 of the Provident Funds Act of 1925 (Act No. XIX of 1925) which is in the following terms :-

"3.(1) A compulsory deposit in any Govern- merit or Railway Provident Fund shall not in any way be capable of being assigned or charged and shall not be liable to attachment under any decree or order of any Civil, Revenue or Criminal Court in respect of any debt or liability incurred by the subscriber or depositor, and neither the Official Assignee nor any receiver appointed under the Provincial Insolvency Act, 1920, shall be entitled to, or have any claim on any such compulsory deposit.

(2) Any sum standing to the credit of any subscriber to, or depositor, in any such Fund at the time of his decease and payable under the rules of the Fund to any dependent of the subscriber or depositor, or to such Person as may be authorised by law to receive payment on his behalf, shall, subject to any deduction authorised by this Act and, save where the dependent is the widow or child of the subscriber or depositor, subject also to the rights of an assignee under an assignment made before the commencement of this Act, vest in the dependant, and shall, subject as aforesaid, be free from any debt or other liability incurred by the deceased or incurred by the dependant before the death of the subscriber or depositor,"

In my opinion the argument put forward On behalf of the appellant is well founded and must be accepted as correct. Sec.3 of Ordinance No. XXXVIII of 1944 states as follows:-

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"3. Application for attachment of property. (1) Where the Provincial Government has reason to believe that any person has committed (whether after the commencement of this Ordinance or not) any scheduled offence, the Provincial Government may, whether or not any Court has taken cognizance o£ the offence authorise the making of an application to the District Judge within the local limits of whose jurisdiction the said person ordinarily resides or carries on his business, for the attachment under this Ordinance of the money or other property which the Provincial Government believes the said person to have procured by means of the offence, or if such money cr other property cannot for any reason be attached, of other property of the said person of value nearly as may be equivalent to that of the aforesaid money or other Property.

(2) The provisions