Charge of unclaimed property and disposal thereof
23. (1) It shall be the duty of every police-officer to take temporary charge-
(a) of all unclaimed movable property found by, or made over to, him;
(b) of all movable property found lying in any public place or street, if the owner or person in charge of such property, on being directed to remove the same, refuses or omits to do so.
(2) A police-officer taking charge of any property under sub-section (1) shall hand over the property to the office-in-charge of the police station concerned and report the matter to the Police Commissioner forthwith.
(3) If such property appears to have been left by a person who has died intestate, and not to be under five thousand taka in value, the Police Commissioner shall communicate with the Administrator General, with a view to its being dealt with under the
Administrator General's Act, 1913 (III of 1913), or any other law for the time being in force.
(4) In every other case, the Police Commissioner shall issue a proclamation specifying the articles of which such property consists, and requiring any person who may have a claim thereto to appear before him or some other officer whom he appoints in this behalf and establish his claim within three months from the date of such proclamation.
(5) If the property, or any part thereof, is subject to speedy and natural decay, or consists of livestock, or if the property appears to be of a value of less than five hundred taka, it may forthwith be sold by auction under the orders of the Police Commissioner and the net proceeds of such sale shall be dealt with in the same manner as is hereinafter provided for the disposal of the said property.
(6) The Police Commissioner shall, on being satisfied of the title of the claimant to the possession of any property referred to in sub-section (4), order the same to be delivered to him, after deduction or payment of the expenses properly incurred by the police in the seizure and detention thereof.
(7) The Police Commissioner may at his discretion, before making any order under sub-section (6), take such security as he may think proper from the person to whom the said property is to be delivered; and nothing hereinbefore contained shall affect the right of any person to recover the whole or any part of such property from the person to whom it may have been delivered pursuant to such order.
(8) If no person establishes his claim to such property within the period prescribed in sub-section (4), it shall be at the disposal of the Government and the property, or such part thereof as has not already been sold under sub-section (5), may be sold by auction under orders of the Police Commissioner.