Section 2 in West Bengal Escheats and Forfeitures Act, 2012
2. Definitions.
- In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires,-(a)"Appellate Authority" means the Secretary, Judicial Department of the State Government or such authority that the State Government may by general or special order delegate such function to;(b)"Claimant" means a person who had a legal claim on the previous owner, or just or natural right or claim to succeed to the previous owner's property or to any part thereof and claiming any interest in escheated property;(c)"Collector" means the Collector of a district and includes an Additional Collector or any other officer appointed, authorised or empowered by the State Government to exercise all or any of the powers of a Collector under this Act;(d)"Competent Authority" means any person or authority of the Judicial Department of the State Government authorised to perform the functions of the competent authority under this Act or any other persons or authorities may be authorised by the State Government, by notification in the Official Gazette, to perform such functions of the competent authority or to perform different functions;(e)"court" means any civil court of competent jurisdiction;(f)"deceased" means the person on whose death property has accrued to the State Government by escheat or lapse;(g)"escheat" with all its grammatical variations means the automatic transfer to the State Government of property of a person who dies intestate without any legal heirs according to his personal law and in case of an artificial person such as a corporation, trust, association of persons or society recognized by law to be capable of owning property, whether in its own name or in the name of any governing body or office bearer by whatever name called or otherwise, the transfer to the State Government of property of such artificial person on its dissolution, winding up, becoming defunct whether by operation of law, declaration or in fact, including the circumstances mentioned in section 3 such fact being one that only the Competent Authority will have the power to determine in the manner prescribed;(h)"escheated property" means any land, building or other real or personal property or any interest, legal or equitable, in it or any interest in any corporeal or incorporeal hereditament and includes any movable or immovable or any abandoned immovable property, which has vested or having become vested or shall vest in the State Government by escheat or lapse, or as bona vacantia under the provisions of this Act;(i)"prescribed" means prescribed by rules made under this Act;(j)"property" means and includes both or any one of the escheated property or unclaimed property, as the case it may be;(k)"State Government" means the State Government of West Bengal and "State" means the State of West Bengal;(l)"unclaimed property" means any movable or immovable property or any article or treasure trove of any description or any interest, legal or equitable, in it which is forfeited or having become forfeited or shall forfeit to the State Government under the provisions of this Act;(m)the "masculine" shall include the feminine, the singular and the plural unless repugnant or contrary to the context.
