War Injuries Ordinance, 1941

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THE WAR INJURIES ORDINANCE, 1941 
 
 
 
 
CONTENTS 
 
1. Short title, extent and commencement 
 
2. Interpretation 
 
3. Power to make schemes for relief in respect of war injuries and war service injuries 
  
4. Relief from liability to pay compensation or damages 
 
5. Information as to earnings 
 
5A. Medical attention in dispensaries and hospitals 
 
6. Penalty for false statement 
 
7. Assignment or charges to be void 
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 
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THE WAR INJURIES ORDINANCE, 1941 
 
1ORDINANCE No. VII OF 1941 
 
[25th July, 1941] 
 
An Ordinance to make provision for the grant of relief in respect of certain personal injuries 
sustained during the continuance of 2[* *] hostilities. 
 
 WHEREAS an emergency has arisen which renders it necessary to make provision for the 
grant of relief in respe ct of certain personal injuries susta ined during the continuance of 2[*    *]  
hostilities; 
 
 Now, THEREFORE, in exercise of the powers conferred by section 72 of the Government of 
India Act, as set out in the Ninth Schedule to the Government of India Act,  1935, the 
Governor-General is pleased to make and promulgate the following Ordinance:⸻ 
 
 1. Short title , extent and commencement .⸻(1) This Ordinance may be called the War 
Injuries Ordinance, 1941. 
 
 3[(2) It extends to the whole of Pakistan]. 
 
 (3) It shall come into force at once. 
 
 2. Interpretation. —In this Ordinance, unless there is anything repug nant in the subject or 
context,⸻ 
 
(1) “civil defence organization”  means any organisation established for civil 
defence purposes which is declared by a sche me to be a civil defence 
organisation for the purposes of this Ordinance and the scheme; 
 
(2) “civil defence volunteer”, in relation to an injury, means a person certified, by 
an officer of a civil defence organisation authorised by the 4[Federal 
Government] to grant such certificates, to have been a member of that 
organisation at the time the injury was sustained; 
 
5[(3) “continuance of hostilities” means,⸻ 
 
(a) in relation to the hostilities during 1939 -1945, the period beginning 
with the commencement of this Ordinance and ending on the date 
declared by the late Government of India to be the date on which the 
said hostilities terminated; and 
 
 
 1The Ordinance has been applied to Balochistan, see Notification No.23-W, dated the 1st October, 1941. 
 It has been extended to the Leased Areas of Balochistan by the Leased Areas (Laws) Order, 1950 (G.G.O.3 of 1950).  
 This Ordinance has been applied to the Provinci ally Administered Tribal Areas of Balochistan, see Regualtion No.IV of 1987, Art.2 and 
 Sch. 
 2Omitted by Ordinance No. XXXIII of 1965, s. 2. 
 3Subs. by the Central Laws (Statute Reform) Ordinance  No. XXI of 1960, s. 3 and 2nd Sch.  
 4Subs. by F.A.O., 1975, Art.2 and Table. 
 5Subs. by Ordinance  No. XXXIII of 1965,s.3. 
 The present hostilities as respects the tribal areas beyond the western and northern boundaries of the North -West Frontier Province and 
 such of the Baluch tribal areas beyond the western b order of the Dera Ghazi Khan District of the Punjab as are not included in the 
 Baluchistan Tribal Areas, shall be deemed to have terminated on the 31st August, 1945, see Notification No. 1-W., dated the 8th January, 
 1946, Gazette of India, 1945, Pt. I, p. 30. 
 
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(b) in relation to any other hostilities, the  period beginning with the date 
declared by the 1[Federal Government], by notification  in the official 
Gazette, to be the date of the commencement of hostilities for the 
purpose of this Ordinance and endin g on the date declared likewise to 
be the date of termination of such hostilities ;] 
 
(4) “gainfully occupied person”  means a person who is engaged in any trade, 
business, profession, office, employment or vocation and is wholly or 
substantially dependent thereon for a livelihood, or a person who, though 
temporarily unemployed is normally so engaged and dependent; 
 
(5) “scheme” means a scheme made under this Ordinance; 
 
(6) “war injury” means a physical injury⸻ 
 
(a) caused by⸻ 
 
(i) the discharge of any missile (including liquids and gas), or 
 
(ii) the use of any weapon, explosive or other noxious thing, or 
 
(iii) the doing of any other injurious act,  either by the enemy or in 
combating the enemy or in repelling an imagined attack by the 
enemy; or 
 
(b) caused by the impact on any person or property of any enemy aircraft, 
or any aircraft belonging to or held by any person on behalf of or for 
the benefit of  2[Government] or any allied power, or any part of, or 
anything dropped from, any such aircraft; 3[or] 
 
3[(c) caused by any explosion or fire which involves any explosives or 
munitions or other dangerous things required for war purposes and 
which happens or is caused by, through, or in connection with the 
manufacture, storage or transportation of any such explosives, 
munitions or other dangerous things;] 
 
(7) “war service injury” , in relation to a civil defence volun teer, means any 
physical injury shown to the satisfaction of the 1[Federal Government] or other 
authority authorised to make payments under a  scheme to have arisen out of 
and in the course of the performance by the volunteer of his duties as a 
member of the civil defence organisation to which he belonged at the time the 
injury was sustained, and (except in the case of a war injury) not to have arisen 
out of and in the course of his employment in any other capacity: 
 
 Provided that before bei ng so satisfied the 1[Federal Government ] or other authority 
authorised to make payments under a scheme shall have received from the civil defence organisa tion 
of which the volunteer concerned was a member at the time the injury was sustained, a report, by an 
officer of the org anisation authorised by the 1[Federal Government] to make such reports, about the 
injury in question. 
 
 
 1Subs. by F.A.O., 1975, Art.2 and Table. 
 2Subs. by A. O., 1961, Art. 2. 
3Added by Ordinance  No.  X of 1945, s. 2. 
 
 
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 3. Power to make schemes for relief in respect of war injuries and war service injuries . 
⸻(1) The 1[Federal Government] may make a scheme or schemes in accordance with the provisions 
of this Ordinance providing for the grant of relief in respect of the following injuries sustained during 
the continuance of  2[* *] hostilities, namely:⸻ 
 
(a) war injuries sustained by gainfully occupied persons (with such exceptions, if 
any, as may be specified in the scheme) and by persons of such other classes 
as may be so specified ; and 
 
(b) war service injuries sustained by civil defence volunteers. 
 
 (2) A scheme may authorise the 1[Federal Government], or any authority authorised by the 
1[Federal Government ] to make pay ments under the scheme  in such circumstances and subject to 
such conditions as may be specified in the scheme, to make to or in respect of persons injured ⸻ 
 
(a) payments by way of temporary allowance, which shall be payable only so long 
as the person injured is incapaci tated for work by the injury and has not 
received any such payment as is mentioned in clause (b); 
 
(b) payments otherwise t han by way of temporary allowance, which shall be 
payable only where the injury causes serious and prolonged disablement or 
death ; and 
 
(c) payments for the purchase of or the grant at the cost of Government of 
artificial limbs or surgical or other applia nces 3[and payments for medical and 
surgical treatment]. 
 
(3) A scheme may empower the 1[Federal Government] to make regulations for giving effect 
to the purposes of the scheme. 
 
(4) A scheme may provide that it shall come into operation or shall be deemed  to have come 
into operation on such date as may by specified therein. 
 
(5) A scheme may be amended or rescinded at any time by the 1[Federal Government.] 
 
(6) Any decision of the 1[Federal Government ] or other authority empowered to make 
payments under a scheme as to the making, refusal or amount, or as to the continuance or 
discontinuance, of a payment under a scheme may be varied from time to time by a subsequent 
decision of the 1[Federal Government] or such authority as the case may be, but save in so far as it is 
so varied shall be final and conclusive. 
 
4. Relief from liability to pay compensation or damages. ⸻(1) In respect of a war injury 
sustained during the con tinuance of 4[* *] hostilities by any person, and in respect of a war service 
injury sustained during that period by a civil defence volunteer, no such compensation or damages 
shall be payable, whether to the person injured or to any other person, as apart from the provisions of 
this sub-section⸻ 
 
 
 
 
 
 1Subs. by F.A.O.,1975, Art.2 and Table,. 
 2Omitted by Ordinance No. XXXIII of 1965, s. 4. 
 3Added by Ordinance No. I of 1942, s. 2. 
 4Omitted by Ordinance No. XXXIII of 1965, s. 5. 
 
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(a) would be payable under the Workmen’ s Compens ation Act, 1923 (VIII of 
1923); or 
 
(b) would, whether by virtue of  any enactment or by virtue of any contra ct or at 
common law, be payable ⸻ 
 
(i) in the case of a war injury, by any person, or 
 
(ii) in the case of a war service injury sustained by a civil defence 
volunteer, by the employer of the volunteer, or by any person who has 
responsibility in connection with the volunteer’ s duties as s uch or by 
any other civil defence volunteer,  on the ground that the injury in 
question was attributable to some negligence, nuisance or breach of 
duty for which the person by whom the compensation or dama ges 
would be payable is responsible. 
 
 (2) The fail ure to give a notice or make a claim or commence proceedings within the time 
required by any enactment shall not be a bar to the maintenance of proceedings in res pect of any 
personal injury, if ⸻ 
 
(a) an application for a payment under a scheme has been duly made to the 
1[Federal Government] or other authority empowered to make payments under 
the scheme in respect of the injury; and 
 
(b) the Court or other authority before which the proceed ings are brought is 
satisfied that the said application was made in the reasonable belief that the 
injury was such that a payment could be made under the scheme; and 
 
(c) the 1[Federal Government ] or other authority empowered to make payments 
under the scheme certifies that the application was rejected, or that payments 
made in pursuance of the application , were discontinued, on the ground that 
the injury was not such an injury ; and 
 
(d) the proceedings are commenced within one month from the date of the said 
certificate. 
 
 5. Information as to earnings.  ⸻(1) Where it is necessary in order to determine the amount 
of any payment to be awarded under a scheme in respect of any injury, to ascertain the earnings of 
the person injured in respect of any period before he sustained the injury, the 1[Federal Government 
or other authority authorised to make payments under the scheme may by notice in writing require ⸻ 
 
(a) any person who was an employer of the injured person during that period, or 
 
(b) any other person hav ing any knowledge with respect to the financial 
circumstances of the injured person during that period,  to furnish in 
accordance with the notice any information in his possession relating to those 
earnings or circumstances, and to produce to any person specified in the notice 
any wage books, records or other documents in his possession containing 
entries with respect to those earnings. 
 
 1Subs. by F.A.O., 1975, Art.2 and Table. 
 
 
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 (2) If any person ⸻ 
 
(a) fails to comply with the requirements of any such notice, or 
 
(b) in purported compliance with any such notice, knowingly or recklessly makes 
any untrue statement or untrue representation, or produces any document 
which is false in a material partic ular or calculated to deceive,  he shall be 
punishable with fine which may extend to three hundred rupees. 
 
 1[5A. Medical attention in dispensaries and hospitals .⸻(1) The person managing any 
dispensary or hospital shall, if so required by the  2[Federal] or a Provincial Governme nt by general 
or special order, ⸻ 
 
(a) provide at the dispensary or hospital medical and surgi cal treatment for 
persons who have sustained injuries of the nature specified in sub -section (1) 
of section 3, and 
 
(b) keep such records a nd make such returns relating to the persons treated for 
such injuries as may be required by or under a scheme. 
 
(2) If any person fails to comply when so required with the provisions of this section he shall 
be punishable with fine which may extend to one thousand rupees.] 
 
 6. Penalty for false statement.—Any person, who for the purpose of obtaining a payment or 
grant under a scheme either for himself or for any other person, knowingly makes any untrue 
statement or untrue representation, shall be punishab le with imprisonment for a term which may ex -
tend to three months. 
 
 7. Assignment or charges to be void.—Any assignment of, or charge on, and any agreement 
to assign or charge any payment awarded or to be awarded under a scheme shall be void, and, on the 
insolvency of any person to whom such a payment has been awarded, the payment shall not pass to 
any trustee or other person acting on behalf of the creditors. 
 
 
 
 
____________ 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Date: 22-05-2024 
___________________________________________________________________________ 
 1S.5A ins. by Ordinance No. I of 1942, s.3. 
 2Subs. by F.A.O., 1975, Art.2 and Table.