(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, by the usage of the country, would not 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 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;
(kb) all moneys payable under a policy of insurance on the life of the judgment-debtor;
(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.
Legal Commentary & Landmark Judgments: Section 60
Section 60 of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 establishes the statutory charter of execution, defining property liable to attachment and sale while enacting vital socio-economic exemptions.
Section 60 provides a balanced execution charter, rendering property attachable while shielding essential personal belongings, tools of artisans, and subsistence wages from seizure.
However, the proviso to Section 60(1) enacts an exhaustive list of non-attachable properties to ensure basic human subsistence: (a) necessary wearing-apparel, cooking vessels, and bedding; (b) tools of artisans, implements of husbandry, and cattle necessary for livelihood; (c) houses and buildings of an agriculturist or domestic servant; (g) stipends and gratuities allowed to pensioners of the Government; (i) basic salary (first one thousand rupees plus two-thirds of the remainder are exempt in ordinary decrees); (ia) one-third of salary in maintenance decrees; (k) provident fund balances; and (m) an expectancy of succession by survivorship. Sub-section (1A) declares any private agreement waiving these exemptions to be void.
Section 60 balances the creditor's right to satisfaction against the debtor's constitutional right to dignified survival. Decrees cannot attach pension funds, provident funds, agricultural implements, or residential homesteads of farmers. Under *Radhey Shyam Gupta*, funds representing commuted pension or gratuity cannot be attached even when lying in savings bank accounts.