West Pakistan Vagrancy Ordinance, 1958

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THE WEST PAKISTAN VAGRANCY ORDINANCE, 1958 
 
 
 
 
CONTENTS 
1. Short title, extent and commencement 
2. Definitions 
3. Welfare homes 
4. Manager 
5. Duties of the manager 
6. Voluntary admission to welfare homes 
7. Powers of police officer to arrest and search vagrants and to seize things liable to confiscation 
8. Trial 
9. Sentence for vagrancy 
10. Punishment for employing or causing persons to ask for alms 
11. Presumption 
12. Detention of dependents 
13. Compulsory contribution by persons bound to maintain vagrants 
14. Place of detention or imprisonment 
15. Transfer of vagrants from welfare homes 
16. Release on probation or short leave 
17. Powers of discharge of vagrants from welfare homes 
18. Effect of other laws and enactments 
 

 
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19. Cognizance and bail 
20. Jurisdiction 
21. Appeal 
22. Persons to be deemed to be public servants 
23. Indemnity 
24. Articles liable to confiscation 
25. Power to make rules 
26. Repeal 
 
  
 
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THE WEST PAKISTAN VAGRANCY ORDINANCE, 1958 
WEST PAKISTAN ORDINANCE No. XX OF 1958. 
[1st October, 1958] 
AN 
ORDINANCE 
to amend and consolidate the law relating to vagrancy in the Province of West Pakistan. 
Preamble. WHEREAS it is expedient to  amend and consolidate the law relating to vagrancy 
in the Province of West Pakistan in the manner hereinafter appearing; 
AND WHEREAS the Provincial Assembly of West Pakistan is not in session and the Governor 
of West Pakistan is satisfied that circumstances exist which render immediate action necessary; 
 NOW, THEREFORE, in exercise of the powers conferred by Article 102 of the Constitution, 
the Governor of West Pakistan is pleased to make and promulgate the following Ordinance:__ 
1. Short title , extent and commencement.  (1) This Ordinance may be called the West 
Pakistan Vagrancy Ordinance, 1958. 
1[(2) It extends to the whole of the Province of West Pakistan except the Tribal Areas.] 
(3) It shall come into force in such area or areas and on such date or dates as Government may, 
by notification, direct. 
2. Definitions. In this Ordinance, unless the context otherwise requires, the following 
expressions shall have the meanings hereby respectively assigned to them, that is to say__ 
(a) “child” means a person under the age of fourteen years; 
(b) “Controller” means the Controller of Vagrancy, West Pakistan; 
(c) “Government” means the Government of West Pakistan; 
(d) “guardian” in relation to a child, includes any person who in the opinion of the 
court having cognizance of any case in which a child is concerned, has for the 
time being the charge of or control over such child; 
(e) “prescribed” means prescribed by rules made under this Ordinance; 
 
1Subs. by the West Pakistan Laws (Extension to Karachi) Ordinance, 1964 (Ordinance No. VII of 1964), published in the Gazette of  West Pakistan 
(Extraordinary), dated May 25, 1964, pp. 1679-1688, s. 2 read with Schedule, Serial No. 15. 
 
 
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(f) “public place” includes any public park, garden, railway station, ground or 
vehicle to which the public for the time being have access, whether on payment 
or otherwise; 
(g) “vagrant” means a person who__ 
(i) solicits or receives alms in a public place; 
(ii) exposes or exhibits any sore, wound, injury, deformity or disease in a 
public place for the purpose of soliciting or receiving alms; 
(iii) allows himself to be used as an exhibit for the purpose of soliciting or 
receiving alms; 
(iv) enters on any private premises without the invitation of the occupier for 
the purpose of soliciting or receiving alms; 
but does not include a person who solicits or receives money, food or gift for a purpose 
authorised by rules under a prescribed certificate; 
(h) “welfare home” means a n institution established and maintained by 
Government for the detention, training, employment and maintenance of 
vagrants and their dependents other than those who are lepers, lunatics or 
suffering from contagious diseases and includes an institution noti fied by 
Government as such for the purposes of this Ordinance. 
3. Welfare homes. (1) Government shall establish and maintain one or more welfare homes at 
such place or places as it thinks fit for the custody and detention of vagrants. 
(2)  Government may, by notification, declare any existing charitable or other institution with 
previous consent of the controlling authority of such institution and on such conditions as may be 
mutually agreed upon between Government and the said authority, to  be a welfare home for the 
purposes of this Ordinance. 
4. Manager. Every welfare home shall be under the immediate charge of a manager appointed 
by Government and such manager shall be assisted by such medical and educational staff as 
Government may appoint. 
5. Duties of the manager . (1) The manager of a welfare home shall, as soon as may be, get 
every vagrant medically examined and the report of the examination shall state, inter alia__ 
(a) the sex and the age of the vagrant; 
(b) whether the vagrant is a leper ? 
(c) whether he is suffering from any other contagious disease ? 
(d) whether the vagrant is insane, or mentally deficient ? 
 
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(e) what is the general state of health and bodily condition of  the vagrant and for 
which, if any, of the prescribed types of work such vagrant is fit ? 
(2) The manager of a welfare home shall keep the following classes of vagrants separately from 
each other__ 
(a) children; 
(b) females; 
(c) lepers or persons suffering from contagious diseases; 
(d) lunatics; 
(e) infirm, old or incapacitated; 
(f) able bodied: 
Provided that children less than seven years of age or females may be allowed to take up 
residence in the same apartment in which any male member of their family is confined. 
(3) The manager shall arrange__ 
(a) for the education of the children detained in the welfare home; 
(b) for such instruction of the vagrants, as may rehabilitate them in useful trades 
and make them self-supporting. 
6. Voluntary admission to welfare homes. Any old, infirm or disabled person or a child may 
present himself before the District Magistrate for being admitted to a welfare home and if the District 
Magistrate is satisfied that such person has no source of livelihood, he may be detained in a welfare 
home till such time as such person becomes possessed of means of livelihood or applies for his release 
from custody. 
7. Powers of police officer to arrest and search vagrants and to seize things liable to 
confiscation. (1) Any police officer may without an order from a Magistrate and without a warrant, 
arrest and search any person who appears to him to be a vag rant and may seize anything found on or 
about such person which he has reason to believe to be liable to confiscation under this Ordinance. 
(2) A person arrested under the last preceding sub-section, shall be released if he furnishes bail 
to the satisfaction of the police officer making arrest for his appearance before the Magistrate having 
jurisdiction in the area where the arrest is made. 
(3) If the person arrested is not able to furnish bail to the satisfaction of the police officer 
making arre st, such person shall be detained in custody and shall be produced before the nearest 
Magistrate within a period of twenty -four hours of such arrest, excluding the time necessary for the 
journey from the place of arrest to the Court of the Magistrate and no such person shall, be detained in 
custody beyond the said period without an authority of the Magistrate. 
 
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8. Trial. When the person arrested under the last preceding section appears or is brought before 
the Magistrate, he shall be tried in accordance with the procedure prescribed for the trial of summons 
cases under Chapter XX of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1898 (V of 1898): 
Provided that whenever any Magistrate, after having heard and recorded the whole or any part 
of the evidence in a trial, ceases to exercise jurisdiction therein, and is succeeded by another 
Magistrate, who has and who exercises such jurisdiction, the Magistrate so succeeding may act on the 
evidence so recorded by his predecessor or partly recorded by his predecessor a nd partly recorded by 
himself; or he may resummon the witnesses and recommence the enquiry or trial. 
9. Sentence for vagrancy. If the Magistrate finds that a person is a vagrant, such person shall 
be punished with imprisonment of either description for a period not exceeding three years: 
Provided that in any case in which a person who has not been previously convicted of an 
offence under this Ordinance, is convicted of an offence under this Ordinance, the Magistrate may 
instead of sentencing him to a term o f imprisonment, release him after due admonition on his, or in 
case such vagrant is a child, on his guardian entering into a bond with or without sureties to appear 
and receive the sentence when called upon during such period (not exceeding three years) as  the 
Magistrate may direct and in the meantime to refrain from conducting himself as a vagrant. 
10. Punishment for employing or causing persons to ask for alms . Whoever employs or 
causes any person to solicit or receive alms or uses a person as an exhibit for the purpose of soliciting 
or receiving alms or being the guardian of a child connives at or encourages the employment or the 
causing of the child to solicit or receive alms shall be punished with imprisonment of either description 
for a term which may extend to one year or with fine or with both. 
11. Presumption. If a person has no ostensible source of subsistence and wanders about or 
remains in a public place in such condition or manner as raises a reasonable suspicion that he is there 
to solicit or receive alms, it shall be presumed, unless the contrary is proved that such person is a 
vagrant. 
12. Detention of dependents . (1) If any vagrant sentenced under section 9 to a term of 
imprisonment has a child below seven years of age or any other per son wholly dependent upon him, 
the Magistrate may, after making such inquiry as he thinks fit and after giving such person an 
opportunity of being heard, direct that such child or person shall be detained in the welfare home so 
long as the vagrant remains in custody: 
Provided that a child of the vagrant who is below the age of seven years shall be detained along 
with the vagrant until he attains the age of seven years. 
(2)  Where the dependent is a child above seven years of age, or when the child detained under 
the last preceding sub -section, attains the age of seven years, the Magistrate or any other officer 
empowered by Government in this behalf may direct that such child be detained in any other institution 
approved by Government. 
13. Compulsory contribution by persons bound to maintain vagrants. (1) If the Magistrate 
is satisfied that a vagrant or a person bound to maintain a vagrant has sufficient means, he shall make 
 
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an order directing such vagrant or the person bound to maintain such vagrant, as the case may be, to 
contribute in the prescribed manner towards the maintenance of such vagrant in a welfare home: 
Provided that no order under this sub -section shall be made without giving the person from 
whom contribution is required the opportunity of being heard. 
(2)  If any contribution directed by the Magistrate under the last preceding sub-section remains 
unpaid, the same may be recovered as arrears of land revenue. 
14. Place of detention or imprisonment. A vagrant arrested under this Ordinance shall remain 
in custody, or, if convicted serve his term of imprisonment in the prescribed manner, as the case may 
be, in the nearest welfare home or such other place as Government may , by general or special order, 
direct. 
15. Transfer of vagrants from welfare homes . The Controller or any other officer specia lly 
empowered by Government in this behalf may by an order in writing direct the transfer of a vagrant 
from one welfare home to another or to any other place appointed by Government in this behalf. 
16. Release on probation or short leave . The Controller or  any other officer specially 
empowered by Government in this behalf may, subject to such conditions as may be prescribed,__ 
(a) release any vagrant on probation after he has served imprisonment for a period 
not less than one year; 
(b) release a vagrant detained in a welfare home by granting him a licence, and, 
after the expiration of three months from the commencement of the release on 
licence, recommend to Government the unconditional release of such vagrant if 
he considers that there is probability of such vagrant’s abstaining from 
vagrancy; 
(c) grant short leave of absence to any vagrant detained in a welfare home 1[and the 
District of Karachi]: 
Provided that a vagrant contravening any condition relating to his release on 
licence may be re -arrested under the orders of the Controller and sent to the welfare 
home for completing the sentence awarded to him under section 9. 
17. Powers of discharge of vagrants from welfare homes. The Controller or any other officer 
specially empowered by Government in this behalf may discharge a vagrant from a welfare home__ 
(a) if he is satisfied that a vagrant has become possessed of an income sufficient to 
enable him to support himself without resorting to vagrancy; 
 
1Subs. by the West Pakistan Laws (Extension to Karachi) Ordinance, 1964 (Ordinance No. VII of 1964), published in  the Gazette of West Pakistan 
(Extraordinary), dated May 25, 1964, pp. 1679-1688, s. 2 read with Schedule, Serial No. 15. 
 
 
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(b) if a relative of such vagrant, or a person interested in the welfare of the vagrant, 
enters into a bond with or without sureties to look after and maintain such 
vagrant and to prevent him from resorting to vagrancy; 
(c) on the certificate of the manager of the welfare home that satisfa ctory 
employment has been obtained for such vagrant; 
(d) for any other good and sufficient reason to be recorded in writing. 
18. Effect of other laws and enactments . The provisions of this Ordinance, and any order 
made or action taken under this Ordinance, shall have effect notwithstanding anything inconsistent 
therewith contained in any enactment other than this Ordinance, for the time being in force, and any 
instrument having its effect by virtue of any such enactment other than this Ordinance. 
19. Cognizance and bail. All offences under this Ordinance shall be cognizable and bailable. 
20. Jurisdiction. No offence under this Ordinance shall be triable by any Magistrate other than 
a Magistrate of the first class. 
21. Appeal. Any person aggrieved by an order of a Magistrate under this Ordinance may within 
thirty days of such order appeal to the District Magistrate and if such order is made by the District 
Magistrate, to the Sessions Court. 
22. Persons to be deemed to be public servants.  All persons empowered to perform any 
function under this Ordinance shall be deemed to be public servants within the meaning of section 21 
of the Pakistan Penal Code, 1860 (XLV of 1860). 
23. Indemnity. No suit, prosecution, or other legal proceeding shall lie against any person for 
anything in good faith done or intended to be done under this Ordinance. 
24. Articles liable to confiscation. All things and money found on or about a vagrant except 
the necessary wearing apparel shall be liable to confiscation to Government under this Ordinance. 
25. Power to make rules. (I) Government may make rules for carrying out the purposes of this 
Ordinance. 
(2) In particular and without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing power, such rules may 
provide for all or any of the following matters, namely:__ 
(a) the purposes for which a person may solicit or receive money or ask for food or 
gift referred to in clause (g) of section 2 and the form of the certificate; 
(b) the manner in which Controller shall discharge his functions; 
(c) the manner in which a medical officer may examine a vagrant; 
(d) the types of works for which a vagrant may be reported fit; 
(e) the types of the hard labour which is to form the punishment; 
 
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(f) the manner in which an imprisonment under this Ordinance may be served; 
(g) the manner in which a vagrant may be transferred from  one welfare home to 
another or to any other place of detention; 
(h) the manner in which the manager of a welfare home is to certify that satisfactory 
employment has been obtained for a vagrant; 
(i) the place or institutions where children detained under this Ordinance are to be 
confined; 
(j) the places or institutions where lepers, lunatics and persons suffering from 
contagious diseases may be confined. 
(3) Every rule under this Ordinance shall be laid before the West Pakistan Assembly and may 
be amended or repealed by a resolution of the said Assembly. 
26. Repeal. The Sind Vagrancy Act, 1947 (Sind XVII of 1947), is hereby repealed.   
 
 
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92801         RGN Date: 03-03-2025