Pakistan Banking (Prevention of Default and Evasion of labilities) Ordinance, 1947

This is an emergency law from December 1947, made shortly after Pakistan's creation, to stop banks operating in the new country from defaulting on their obligations under pressure from authorities outside Pakistan. Section 3 bars any bank in Pakistan from acting on instructions from a foreign government or authority (including its own head office abroad) about stopping cheque payments, releasing items held in safe custody, or any other banking business, unless it first gets written approval from an officer appointed by the Federal Government.

Section 4 lets the Federal Government, on receiving a complaint that a bank is wrongfully withholding payment of a cheque or delivery of deposited property, order the bank to explain itself and provide a full statement of the relevant assets; if the bank refuses or the explanation is unsatisfactory, the government can authorise an officer to inspect the bank's books and even search its vaults and premises, breaking locks if necessary.

Section 5 lets the government bar a bank from moving assets held in safe custody out of Pakistan while this process is underway. Section 6 is the strongest power: if satisfied the bank wrongfully withheld payment or delivery, the government can order the bank to pay or deliver the item, and if the bank still doesn't comply, order the seizure of the specific item or of enough of the bank's assets to cover the amount owed, transferring them to the person entitled, with any surplus returned to the bank after costs.

Section 8 sets penalties for a bank Manager who fails to comply with an information order or gives a false statement, obstructs an authorised inspection, evades an asset-removal ban, or fails to pay or deliver as ordered — imprisonment up to three years, a fine, or both. Section 10 protects officials and the government from being sued for actions taken in good faith. This is a very old, historically specific emergency law tied to the immediate aftermath of Partition, so its practical relevance today should be checked.