(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 municipal area, any movable property belonging to the person therein named as defaulter, subject to the following conditions, exceptions and exemptions :(a)the following property shall not be distrained :-(i)the necessary wearing apparel and bedding of the defaulter, his wife and children and their cooking and eating utensils;(ii)tools of artisans;(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 Chairman, 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 to the person in possession thereof at the time of seizure a notice in writing in such form as may be specified by the State Government in this behalf that the said property shall be sold on the expiry of the period as therein mentioned.(3)If there is reason to believe that any property seized under a warrant of distress, 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 other place appointed by the Chairman.
