Gujarat High Court Criminal Manual (subordinate court practice), 1977
The following rules framed by the Government of India under section 12 of the Maintenance Orders Enforcement Act, 1921 (XVIII of 1921) and in supersession of the notification of the Government of India in the late Home Department No. F. 120-22, dated the 22nd September, 1923, are reproduced for the information and guidance of the criminal Courts :— 1. (1) These rules may be called the Maintenance Orders Enforcement Rules, 1955. (2) They extend to the whole of India except the State of Jammu and Kashmir. 2. In these rules the expression "the Act" means the Maintenance Order Enforcement Act, 1921 (XVIII of 1921). 3. The Officer to whom copies of maintenance orders shall be sent under sub-section (1) of section 4 of the Act shall be, in the case of a High Court, the Registrar of such Court and in the case of a Court of summary jurisdiction, the presiding officer of such court. 4. When such copy is received by the Registrar or Officer, the contents thereof shall be entered in a register maintained for the purpose in the Form No. 70. 5. The notice referred to in sub-section (4) of Section 6 of the Act shall be issued to the person who applied under sub-section (1) of that section, it shall contain particulars of the further evidence which is required by the Court in the reciprocating territory and shall state the date when the further evidence will be taken. 6. The Officer of the Court of summary jurisdiction to whom the documents referred to in Sub-section (1) of Section 7 of the Act may be sent under the provisions of that sub-section shall be the presiding Officer of such Court. 7. (1) When an order has been registered under rule 4, the party in whose favour the order has been made shall be entitled to appear, either in person or by pleader or duly authorised agent, before the High Court or Court of summary jurisdiction in which the order has been registered or, as the case may be, before the Civil Court named by such High Court under sub-section (1) of Section 13 of the Act and to move such Court to enforce the order. (2) If within a period of one month from the date of the registration of the order, or, as the case may be, of its transfer to the Civil Court named by the High Court no such appearance has been made, the High Court, Civil Court or Court of summary jurisdiction, as the case may be, shall direct an Officer of the Court to apply for execution of the order, and such Officer shall be entitled to obtain execution thereof on behalf of the person in whose favour the order has been made, and shall pay into the Court any monies realised in execution of the orders: Provided that the appointment of such Officer shall cease to have effect in the event of the subsequent appearance under sub-rule (1) of the party in whose favour the order has been made. (2) For any process issued in the course of proceedings taken in pursuance of section 8 of the Act, there shall be chargeable, in the case of proceedings in a High Court or a subordinate Civil Court named by High Court, such fee as would be chargeable for the issue of a like process in the course of the execution of a decree of such Court, and, in the case of proceedings in a Court of summary jurisdiction, such fee as would be chargeable for the issue of a like process in the course of proceedings under section 488 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1898. (3) Fees of the nature referred to in sub-rule (2) shall not be chargeable in advance but the amount thereof shall be added to the amount to be recovered from the person against whom the order has been made. (4) The amount of the actual expenditure incurred in sending a certified copy of the record to the Central Government under sub-section (6) of section 7 of the Act and in its subsequent transmission to the Court which made the provisional order, shall be recovered, from the applicant for the recession or variation of that order as confirmed, and the confirming Court may decline to send the copy for transmission until the probable amount of such expenditure has been deposited by the applicant : Provided that any excess of an amount so deposited over the actual expenditure shall be refunded to the applicant.