Broad definition of debt includes mortgage liabilities, allowing displaced creditors to proceed under the Act's enforcement machinery.

A mortgage-secured liability is a pecuniary liability and falls within the broad definition of "debt" in section 2(6) of the Displaced Persons (Debts Adjustment) Act, 1951 unless expressly excluded. The Court read the Act's structure, including the special treatment of certain West Pakistan mortgage debts and the machinery in sections 10, 13 and 14, as confirming that mortgage debts remain enforceable under the statute. A displaced creditor may therefore invoke section 13 in respect of a mortgage debt. The definition was held not to be narrowed by other special provisions or scaling-down mechanisms.

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Issues: Whether a liability arising under a mortgage is a "debt" within the meaning of section 2(6) of the Displaced Persons (Debts Adjustment) Act, No. LXX of 1951, and whether a displaced creditor may invoke section 13 of that Act in respect of such liability.

Analysis: The expression "debt" in section 2(6) is defined broadly as any pecuniary liability, and a mortgage-secured obligation is a liability of a monetary nature. A mortgage under section 58 of the Transfer of Property Act, 1882 secures payment of money advanced or to be advanced, or an existing or future debt, and therefore creates a pecuniary liability. The structure of the Act does not cut down this wide meaning: the special treatment of mortgage debts secured on property in West Pakistan under section 2(6)(b) was tied to the special machinery in section 16 and did not exclude mortgage debts generally from section 2(6)(c). The provisions for claims by displaced creditors, including sections 10, 13 and 14, together with the overriding effect in section 3, provide machinery for enforcement even where the debt is a mortgage debt. The presence of other provisions dealing with special situations or scaling down of debts does not narrow the definition of debt.

Conclusion: A mortgage debt is included within "debt" in section 2(6) of the Act, and a displaced creditor may proceed under section 13 in respect of such a liability.

Final Conclusion: The appeal failed because the statutory definition was held wide enough to cover mortgage liabilities, leaving the decree and proceedings under the Act undisturbed.

Ratio Decidendi: A mortgage-secured liability is a pecuniary liability and therefore falls within a broad statutory definition of "debt" unless the Act expressly excludes it.

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