1 -1. Short title.

This Act may be cited as the Married Women and Children (Enforcement of Maintenance) Act 1968 .

2 -2. Application.

This Act applies to Peninsular Malaysia.

3 -3. Interpretation.

In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires-

  "defendant"  , in relation to a maintenance order or a related attachment of earnings order, means the person liable to make payments under the maintenance order;

  "court"  means a court of competent jurisdiction to make a maintenance order;

  "employer"  means a person by whom, as a principal and not as a servant or agent, earnings are to be paid to a defendant;

  "earnings"  , in relation to a defendant, means any sums payable to him-

(a) by way of wages or salary, including any fees, bonus, commission, overtime pay or other emoluments payable in addition to wages or salary by the person paying the wages or salary or payable under a contract of service; or

(b)

4 -4. Power of court to make an attachment of earnings order.

(1) Notwithstanding any written law to the contrary, the court may, upon the application of the person for whose maintenance the order is made or the guardian of such person, make an attachment of earnings order if the court considers it just so to make.

(2) An application for an attachment of earnings order may be made in the proceedings in which a maintenance order is applied for or in any subsequent proceedings.

5 -5. Nature of attachment of earnings order.

(1) An attachment of earnings order shall require the person to whom the order in question is directed, being a person appearing to the court to be the defendant's employer, to make out of the earnings which are to be paid to the defendant payments in satisfaction of the order.

(2) The amount to be prescribed in an attachment of earnings order shall be such sum as to the court shall seem reasonable after taking into account the resources and needs of the defendant and the needs of persons for whom the defendant must or reasonably should provide.

(3) An attachment of earnings order shall contain, so far as the particulars are known to the court making the order, such particulars as may be prescribed for the purpose of enabling the defendant to be identified by the person to whom the order is directed.

(4) An attachment of earnings order or any variation of the order shall not come into force until the expiration of seven days fro

6 -6. Effect of attachment of earnings order.

(1) When an attachment of earnings order is made, all other proceedings for the enforcement of the related maintenance order begun before the making of the attachment of earnings order shall be suspended.

(2) The court by which an attachment of earnings order has been made may, if it thinks fit, on the application of the defendant or a person entitled to receive payments under the related maintenance order, make an order discharging or varying the attachment of earnings order.

(3) An attachment of earnings order shall cease to have effect-

(a) upon the issue of a warrant directing that the amount payable under the related maintenance order shall be levied in the manner provided by law for levying fines;

(b) upon the making of an order sentencing the defendant to imprisonment for failure to comply with the related maintenance order; and

(c) upon the rescission of the related

7 -7. Duty of defendant and employer to comply with attachment of earnings order.

(1) A person to whom an attachment of earnings order is directed shall, notwithstanding anything in any other written law but subject to this Act, comply with the order or, if the order is subsequently varied under section 6, with the order as so varied.

(2) Where on any occasion on which earnings are to be paid to a defendant there are in force two or more attachment of earnings orders relating to those earnings, then, for the purpose of complying with this Act the employer shall-

(a) deal with those orders according to the respective dates on which they came into force disregarding any later order until all earlier orders have been dealt with; and

(b) deal with any later order as if the earnings to which it relates were the residue of the defendant's earnings after the making of any payment under this Act in pursuance of any earlier order.

(3) An employer, who in pursuance o

8 -8. Additional powers of court in attachment of earnings order proceedings.

(1) Where proceedings relating to an attachment of earnings order are brought in any court, the court may either before or at the hearing-

(a) order the defendant to give to the court, within such period as may be specified by the order, a statement signed by him of-

(i) the name and address of his employer, or of each of his employers if he has more than one;

(ii) such particulars as to the defendant's earnings as may be so specified; and

(iii) such prescribed particulars as may be so specified for the purpose of enabling the defendant to be identified by his employer; and

(b) order any person appearing to the court to be an employer of the defendant to give to the court, within such period as may be specified by the order, a statement signed by him or on his behalf of such particulars as may be specified by the order, of all earnings of the defendant whi

9 -9. Power of court to determine what are earnings.

(1) The court by which an attachment of earnings order has been made shall, on the application of the person to whom the order is directed or of the defendant or of the person in whose favour the order was made, determine whether payments to the defendant of a particular class or description specified by the application are earnings for the purposes of that order; and the person to whom the order is directed shall be entitled to give effect to any determination for the time being in force under this subsection.

(2) A person to whom an attachment of earnings order is directed who makes an application under subsection (1) shall not incur any liability for failing to comply with the order as regards any payments of the class or description specified by the application which are made by him to the defendant while the application, or any appeal in consequence of the order, is pending.

(3) Subsection (2) shall not apply to such payments if th

10 -10. Payment of money under attachment of earnings order.

(1) The court to whom an employer pays any sum in pursuance of an attachment of earnings order shall pay that sum to such person entitled to receive payments under the related maintenance order as is specified by the attachment of earnings order.

(2) Any sums received by virtue of an attachment of earnings order by the court shall be deemed to be payments made by the defendant so as to discharge-

(a) firstly, any sums for the time being due and unpaid under the related maintenance order (a sum due at an earlier date being discharged before a sum due at a later date); and

(b) secondly, any costs incurred in proceedings relating to the maintenance order which were payable by the defendant when the attachment of earnings order was made or last varied.

11 -11. Where earnings paid by Government or out of Consolidated Fund.

(1) In relation to earnings which are to be paid by the Government or out of the Consolidated Fund, the earnings shall be treated as to be paid by the chief officer of the department, office or other body concerned.

(2) Subject to subsection (3), if any question arises in connection with any proceedings relating to an attachment of earnings order-

(a) as to the department, office or other body which is concerned for the purposes of this section; or

(b) as to who for those purposes is the chief officer of the department, office or other body concerned, that question shall be referred to and determined by the Minister of Finance.

(3) The Minister of Finance shall not be under any obligation to consider a reference under subsection (2) unless it is made by a court.

(4) A document purporting to set out a determination of the Minister of Finance under subsection (2) and to

12 -12. Penalties for non-compliance with attachment of earnings order and for giving false notice or statement.

(1) Any person who-

(a) fails to comply with subsection 7(1) or (4) or an order of a court under subsection 8(1);

(b) gives a notice under subsection 7(4) or a statement in pursuance of an order of a court under subsection 8(1) which he knows to be false in a material particular; or

(c) recklessly gives such a notice or statement which is false in a material particular,

shall, subject to subsection (2), be liable on conviction to imprisonment for a term not exceeding one year or to a fine not exceeding one thousand ringgit or to both.

(2) It shall be a defence for a person charged with failing to comply with subsection 7(1) to prove that he took all reasonable steps to comply with the attachment of earnings order to which the failure relates.

13 -13. Order to make payment to court.

(1) Where a defendant is a person whose income is derived from sources other than earnings, the court may on the application of the person for whose maintenance the maintenance order is made or on the application of the guardian of such person make an order that any sum of money payable under the maintenance order be paid direct to the court on such day as the court may fix.

(2) Upon receipt of the payment of such sum, the court will then pay the sum to the person for whose maintenance the maintenance order is made or to the guardian of such person.

(3) If the defendant neglects or fails to comply with any order made by the court under subsection (1), the court making the order may call upon the defendant to show cause as to why he has neglected or failed to comply with the order.

(4) If sufficient cause is not shown and the sum of money payable under the maintenance order is not paid, the court may proceed to recover the money

14 -14. Application to States.

In pursuance of Clause (1) of Article 76A of the Federal Constitution, the State Legislatures in Peninsular Malaysia or any of them are authorized to make laws providing that this Act shall apply to or in respect of a maintenance order made by the Syariah Courts constituted by or under the Enactments of the States.

15 -15. Modification.

Where one of the State Legislatures of Peninsular Malaysia in pursuance of the authorization under section 14 by an Enactment applies this Act to or in respect of maintenance orders made by the Syariah Courts constituted under its Enactment, this Act shall have effect with respect to the maintenance orders subject to the following modifications:

(a) the expression "court" shall include a Syariah Court constituted by or under the Enactment of that State;

(b) the expression "maintenance order" shall include a maintenance order made by the Syariah Court; and

(c) any order made or any warrant or any process issued by the Syariah Court under this Act shall be as valid and effectual as if the order, warrant or process is made or issued by a First Class Magistrate in that State and may be executed within that State, but if the order, warrant or process is required to be executed outside that Stat