47Payment of money into Court

(1) Where in respect of any policy of life insurance maturing for payment an insurer is of opinion that by reason of conflicting claims to or insufficiency of proof of title to the amount secured thereby or for any other adequate reason it is impossible otherwise for the insurer to obtain a satisfactory discharge for the payment of such amount, ¹[the insurer may], ²[***] apply to pay the amount into the Court within the jurisdiction of which is situated the place at which such amount is payable under the terms of the policy or otherwise.

(2) A receipt granted by the Court for any such payment shall be a satisfactory discharge to the insurer for the payment of such amount.

(3) An application for permission to make a payment into Court under this section shall be made by a petition verified by an affidavit signed by a principal officer of the insurer setting forth the following particulars, namely: --

(a) the name of the insured person and his address;

(b) if the insured person is deceased, the date and place of hi s death;

(c) the nature of the policy and the amount secured by it;

(d) the name and address of each claimant so far as is known to the insurer with details of every notice of claim received;

(e) the reasons why in the opinion of the insurer a satisfactory discharged cannot be obtained for the payment of the amount; and

(f) the address at which the insurer may be served with notice of any proceeding relating to disposal of the amount paid into Court.

(4) An application under this section shall not be entertained by the Court if the application is made before the expiry of six months ³[from the maturing of the policy by survival, or from the date of receipt of notice by the insurer of the death of the insured, as the case may be.]

(5) If it appears to the Court that a satisfactory discharge for the payment of the amount cannot otherwise be obtained by the insurer it shall allow the amount to be paid into Court and shall invest the amount in Government securities pending its disposal.

(6) The Insurer shall transmit to the Court every notice of claim received after the making of the application under sub-section (3), and any payment required by the Court as costs of the proceedings or otherwise in connection with the disposal of the amount paid into Court shall as to the cost of the application under sub-section (3) be borne by the insurer and as to any other costs be in the discretion of the Court.

(7) The Court shall cause notice to be given to every ascertained claimant of the fact that the amount has been paid into Court, and shall cause notice at the cost of any claimant applying to withdraw the amount to be given to every other ascertained claimant.

(8) The Court shall decide all questions relating to the disposal of claims to the amount paid into Court.