Sections 57 and 58 CPC: Subsistence Allowance, Detention and Release
Sections 57 and 58 of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 deal with subsistence allowance for judgment-debtors detained in civil prison and the statutory limits and conditions governing detention and release in execution of a decree.
Section 57: State Government power to fix scales of monthly subsistence allowance for judgment-debtors.
Section 58: Maximum periods of civil detention, circumstances requiring earlier release, the monetary threshold below which detention cannot be ordered, and the effect of release on the underlying debt.
Section 57 CPC - Subsistence-allowance
The State Government may fix scales, graduated according to rank, race and nationality, of monthly allowances payable for the subsistence of judgment-debtors.
Section 58 CPC - Detention and release
(1) Every person detained in the civil prison in execution of a decree shall be so detained,-
(a) where the decree is for the payment of a sum of money exceeding five thousand rupees, for a period not exceeding three months, and,
(b) where the decree is for the payment of a sum of money exceeding two thousand rupees, but not exceeding five thousand rupees, for a period not exceeding six weeks:
Provided that he shall be released from such detention before the expiration of the said period of detention-
(i) on the amount mentioned in the warrant for his detention being paid to the officer in charge of the civil prison, or
(ii) on the decree against him being otherwise fully satisfied, or
(iii) on the request of the person on whose application he has been so detained, or
(iv) on the omission by the person, on whose application he has been so detained, to pay subsistence allowance:
Provided, also, that he shall not be released from such detention under clause (ii) or clause (iii), without the order of the Court.
(1A) For the removal of doubts, it is hereby declared that no order for detention of the judgment-debtor in civil prison in execution of a decree for the payment of money shall be made, where the total amount of the decree does not exceed two thousand rupees.
(2) A judgment-debtor released from detention under this section shall not merely by reason of his release be discharged from his debt, but he shall not be liable to be re-arrested under the decree in execution of which he was detained in the civil prison.
Key legal effect of Sections 57 and 58
Section 57 enables the State Government to prescribe the subsistence allowance payable for a judgment-debtor in civil prison. Section 58 limits the period of detention according to the amount of the money decree and also specifies circumstances in which the judgment-debtor must be released before that maximum period expires.
Release from detention does not by itself extinguish the judgment-debt. However, a judgment-debtor who has been released under Section 58 cannot be re-arrested under the same decree in execution of which the detention occurred.
Official text
For the current central legislation, refer to the official India Code publication of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908.