9. . (1) The Special Judge shall publish in the [ official Gazette] a notice in English [ and in Hindi in Devanagri Scripts] [ ****] calling upon all persons having claims in respect of private debts both decreed and undecreed against the person or the property of the landlord by or on whose behalf the application has been made under section 4 to present to the Special Judge, within three months from the date of the publication of the notice, written statements of their claims.
(2) The Special Judge shall also cause copies of such notice to be published in such [paper or] papers [ * * *]as he may direct and to be exhibited at his own office, at the office of each Collector within whose district any part of the property of the landlord is situate, and at some conspicuous place in the village where the landlord resides and shall also send a copy of the notice [ and a copy of the written statement submitted under sub-section (1) of section 8] by registered post to each of the creditors whose names and addresses are mentioned in the statement under clause (b) of sub-section (1) of [ section 8].
(3) The written statement must be presented within the period specified in the notice, unless the claimant satisfied the Special Judge that he had sufficient cause for not presenting it within such period, in which case the Special Judge may], [ subject to such orders as to cost as he may deem fit receive such statement if presented at any time before the date on which he sends the decrees to the Collector under the provisions of section 19 or before the 30th day of November, 1939, whichever is later.]
(4) If one or more members of a joint Hindu family apply under the second proviso of sub-section (1) of section 4 then the Special Judge shall apportion the debts due by and the property belonging to the joint family between members who have so applied and those who have not applied and, for the purposes of this Act, those members who have applied under section 4 will be treated as if they had separated from the other members.
(5) (a) If one or more of several joint debtors, who are not members of the same joint Hindu family, apply under section 4 but all the joint debtors do not apply then the Special Judge shall determine the amount of the joint debt which is due by the debtor or debtors who have applied and the amount due by those who have not applied. For the purpose of this determination the Special Judge shall make the joint debtors who have not applied parties to the proceedings and shall hear any objection that they may make before recording his finding.
(b) If all the joint debtors have not applied under section 4 the creditor shall have a right to recover from the debtors who have not applied only such amount on account of the joint debt as may be [ determined] by the Special Judge to be due by them.
[(c) Where no suit has been instituted or where on application for execution of joint decree has been made in any other court in respect of such joint debt or joint decree the creditor may on application to any court having jurisdiction to entertain such suit, or execute such decree, obtain a decree, or get the decree executed against non-applicant joint debtors, for the amount so determined, subject to the payment of the court-fee payable on such execution application, or on a plaint in suit for the amount determined by the Special Judge. :
Provided that notwithstanding anything contained in the Indian Limitation Act, 1908, or any other law for the time being in force, in computing the period of limitation for such suit or such execution application the period from the date of the order of the Collector under section 6 to the date of determination of such debt by the Special Judge under clause (b) shall be excluded in either case.]
[(d) Where a suit in respect of the joint debt had been instituted or an application for the execution of the joint decree made, and proceedings herein were stayed under sub-section (1) of section 7, the court in which such suit had been instituted or such execution application was made shall, on the application of the creditor, proceed with such suit, or execute such application in accordance with sub-section (c) as against those joint debtors who had not applied under section 4, in respect of the amount of the joint debt determined by the Special Judge to be due from such joint debtors] :
Provided that in a suit in respect of a liability of a firm, not being a joint family firm and not being a landlord itself, the creditor shall be entitled to proceed in respect of the whole debt against the property of the firm ; but the amount recoverable from the applicant partner personally shall be determined in accordance with the provision of section 14 :
Provided further that for the purposes of this Act a person who is liable for a debt as a surety shall not be deemed to be a joint debtor:
Provided further that notwithstanding anything to the contrary in the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908, nothing in this Act shall prevent the institution of a suit for the recovery of debt against a surety, but no decree shall be passed in such suit for an amount in excess of the amount determined or which would have been determined in accordance with the provisions of section 14 against the landlord :
[
Provided also that the total amount which may be recovered from the landlord and the surety shall not exceed the amount determined or which might have been determined by the Special Judge against the landlord.]
(6) If one or more but not all the heirs of a deceased debtor who are not members of a joint Hindu family apply under section 4 the Special Judge shall apportion the debts due by and the property belonging to the deceased debtor between those heirs who have made the application and those who have not and subject to the provisions of section 49 that portion of the debt which falls to the share of the heirs who have applied shall be liquidated from the property allotted to them and they shall not be responsible for the portion of the debt which falls to the share of the heirs who have not joined in the application.
[ * * * * *]