(1)It shall be lawful for any officer or other employee of the Municipality to whom a warrant issued under this Chapter, is addressed, to distrain, wherever it may be found in any place within the territorial jurisdiction of the Municipality, any movable property belonging to the person therein named as defaulter, subject to the following conditions, exceptions and exemptions, namely :-(a)the following property shall not be distrained, namely :-(i)the necessary wearing apparel and bedding of the defaulter, his or her spouse and children and their cooking and eating utensils :(ii)tools of artisans; and(iii)books of account;(b)the distress shall not be excessive, that is to say, the property distrained shall be as nearly as possible equal in value to the amount recoverable under warrant, and if any property has been distrained which, in the opinion of the Chief Officer of the Municipality should not have been distrained, it shall forthwith be released.(2)The person charged with the execution of a warrant, shall in the presence of two witnesses, forthwith make an inventory of the property, which he seizes under such warrant, and shall, at the same time give a written notice, in such form, as may be specified by the Municipality by regulations to the person in possession thereof at the time of seizure that the said property will be sold as therein mentioned.(3)If there is reason to believe that any property seized under a warrant under sub-section (2) of section 243, if left in the place where it is found, is likely to be removed by force, the officer executing the warrant, may take it to the office of the Municipality or to any place appointed by the Chief Officer.(4)An officer or other employee of the Municipality charged with the execution of a warrant, if he has reasons to believe that a building contains property liable to be distrained, may exercise the power of entry into the building in accordance with the provisions of section 531.
