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Domi Lal Sahu v. Bijoy Prasad Singh
Factual and Procedural Background
The appellate order impugned was passed by the court below on 1st August, 1931. Two appeals were filed in this Court against that order on 2nd November, 1921, but only one copy of the order appealed against was filed (in appeal no. 9 of 1932). On the Stamp Reporter's observation that another copy should have been filed in appeal no. 12 of 1932, an order was made directing the appellants to file that copy; it was filed on 12th January, 1932. The respondents raised a preliminary point that appeal no. 12 of 1932 was barred by limitation; the court considered section 5 of the Limitation Act and extended the period of limitation in the circumstances.
On the merits: on 29th October, 1918 the appellants had obtained a mortgage decree and a decree for costs against one Domi Lal Sahu (a namesake of one of the appellants). The mortgage decree was satisfied by sale of mortgaged properties and in 1926 the appellants applied for execution of the decree for costs. Domi Lal Sahu, the judgment-debtor, had earlier taken out execution against predecessors-in-interest of the respondents in relation to a money decree he held against them; that money decree was sold in execution of the appellants' decree and purchased by the appellants, with the earlier execution being dismissed in 1927.
In 1929 the appellants initiated a fresh execution proceeding, and during that execution they purchased certain properties belonging to the respondents. The respondents raised objections (three days before sale on 13th January 1930) which were dismissed for default on 16th January 1930; on that day the properties were sold and purchased by the appellants. The respondents thereafter objected under section 47 and Order XXI, rule 90, Civil Procedure Code, contending (i) the money decree which Domi Lal Sahu held could not be sold in execution and the appellants should have followed Order XXI, rule 53; (ii) Narendra Prasad Singh (one of the judgment-debtors represented as a minor) had died before the decree was passed so the decree was null and incapable of execution; and (iii) the processes were not served and in any event could not have been served because directed against a dead person.
The executing Court set aside the sale of the money decree as illegal and found that the procedure under Order XXI, rule 53 should have been followed; on evidence it found that Narendra Prasad Singh had died before the decree. The District Judge of Monghyr upheld the view that the sale of the money decree was not provided for under the Code but did not record a finding on the death of Narendra Prasad Singh.
Legal Issues Presented
- Whether appeal no. 12 of 1932 was barred by limitation and whether the Court should extend the period of limitation under section 5 of the Limitation Act.
- Whether a money decree (a decree for a sum of money) can be sold in execution by an executing court, or whether attachment of such a decree must result in the procedure laid down in Order XXI, rule 53 of the Civil Procedure Code being followed.
- Whether, having purchased a money decree in prior execution proceedings (and with the earlier execution dismissed), the appellants could validly proceed in a later execution as purchasers of that decree to sell properties of the respondents—i.e., whether the attachment under Order XXI, rule 53 continued or had ceased under Order XXI, rule 57.
- Whether the decree obtained by Domi Lal Sahu was a nullity because Narendra Prasad Singh had died before the decree was passed.
Arguments of the Parties
Appellants' Arguments
- Mr. Sarjoo Prasad (for the appellants) argued that Order XXI, rule 53 is only one among several rules prescribing modes of attachment, and it cannot override Order XXI, rule 64, which allows the executing court to order the sale of any property attached and liable to sale. He contended the wide words of rule 64 should include a money decree, and there is no express provision elsewhere in the Code prohibiting the sale of a money decree by the executing court.
- He further suggested that, in the present circumstances, the sale of the money decree should be treated as a redundant step and ignored, so that the appellants should be regarded as having substantially complied with the requirements of Order XXI, rule 53.
- Implicitly, the appellants relied on interpretation of the Code provisions (including Order XXI, rule 16) to support the permissibility of selling an attached money decree.
Respondents' Arguments
- The respondents contended that appeal no. 12 was barred by limitation (because a copy of the order appealed against was filed only on 12th January, 1932).
- Substantively, they argued that a money decree could not be sold in execution and that the appellants should have followed the procedure under Order XXI, rule 53.
- They also argued that one Narendra Prasad Singh had died before the decree was passed, rendering the decree null and incapable of execution.
- Additionally, they contended that the processes in the execution proceedings were not served and in any case could not have been served because they were directed against a dead person among others.
Table of Precedents Cited
| Precedent | Rule or Principle Cited For | Application by the Court |
|---|---|---|
| Tiruvengada Chari v. Vythilinga Pillai | Supports the view that a money decree cannot be sold in execution and that the procedure of Order XXI, rule 53 should be followed when a decree is attached. | The court cited this decision as part of the body of High Court authority endorsing the rule that money decrees are not saleable in execution; it relied on this line of authority in adhering to that view. |
| Jotindro Nath Chowdhry v. Dwarka Nath Dey | Same principle: money decrees are not to be sold in execution; Order XXI, rule 53 governs attachment and execution of such decrees. | The court treated this case as supporting established High Court doctrine against sale of money decrees and followed that reasoning. |
| Sultan Koer v. Gulzari Lall | Affirms the rule that a money decree cannot be sold in execution and must be dealt with under Order XXI, rule 53. | Used by the court as part of consistent authority justifying rejection of the appellants' contention that sale was permissible. |
| Vithaldas Prabhu v. Subraya Manjappa | Supports the proposition that money decrees are not saleable in execution and the attaching creditor must proceed under Order XXI, rule 53. | The court relied on this decision as contributing to the settled view it felt bound to follow. |
| Maung Lun Bye v. Maung Po Nyun | Same principle: money decrees should not be sold; Order XXI, rule 53 procedure applies to attached decrees. | Counted among the authorities forming a consistent approach that the court declined to depart from. |
| Lachman Ojha v. Chariter Ojha | Reiterates that a money decree is not to be sold in execution and that the attached-decree procedure (Order XXI, rule 53) governs. | The court referenced this case with others as the established position it adopted when deciding the present appeals. |
Court's Reasoning and Analysis
The Court's analysis proceeded in distinct stages:
- Preliminary procedural point: the respondents argued appeal no. 12 was barred by limitation because the copy of the order appealed against was only filed on 12th January, 1932. The Court held that although technically the appeal might be presented on that later date, this case merited extension of time under section 5 of the Limitation Act.
- Merits — law on sale of a money decree: the Court examined competing provisions of Order XXI of the Civil Procedure Code. Appellants relied on Order XXI, rule 64 (allowing sale of any attached property liable to sale), whereas respondents relied on Order XXI, rule 53 and the consistent view of High Courts that a money decree is not a saleable item in execution.
- Focus on sub-rule (2) of Order XXI, rule 53: the Court reproduced and analysed this clause, which allows the attaching creditor to proceed to execute the attached decree and apply net proceeds in satisfaction of the attaching creditor's decree — effectively enabling the attaching creditor to act as representative of the holder of the attached decree. The Court inferred that if the framers of the Code had contemplated sale of the attached decree, sub-rule (2) would be unnecessary; its presence therefore supports an interpretation that a money decree should not be sold but should be executed under the mechanism set out in r53(2).
- Purpose and policy: the Court reasoned the provision in r53(2) both avoids multiplicity of execution proceedings and safeguards the interests of the holder of the attached decree (by ensuring any surplus after satisfying the attaching creditor becomes available to the holder of the attached decree). The Court concluded that allowing sale of the decree could frustrate that safeguard.
- Precedential weight: the Court observed that almost all High Courts had taken the view that a money decree cannot be sold in execution and that the procedure in Order XXI, rule 53 should be followed. After considering those decisions, the Court adhered to that line of authority and treated it as binding for present purposes.
- Application to facts — attachment ceased by dismissal: the Court examined the chronology. When the appellants obtained and purchased the money decree in the earlier execution, their own decree against Domi Lal Sahu was satisfied and that execution was dismissed on 9th May, 1927; under Order XXI, rule 57, dismissal of an application for execution causes any attachment to be deemed to cease. The Court therefore held that the attachment ceased on 9th May, 1927.
- Consequence for the 1929 proceedings: the present (1929) execution was a new proceeding. The appellants' steps in 1929 could only be treated as steps under Order XXI, rule 53 if the property remained under attachment, but as the attachment had ceased in 1927, the appellants in 1929 were acting in the capacity of purchasers of the money decree, not as attaching creditors proceeding under r53. Thus the procedure adopted was not that contemplated by r53 and the sale of the respondents' properties in those circumstances could not be upheld.
- On the point of Narendra Prasad Singh's death and nullity of the decree: the Court acknowledged that the respondents adduced oral and documentary evidence to support the allegation that he died before the decree, and that this was a substantial point. However, the lower appellate court did not examine the question fully and, since the appeals failed on the primary point about the illegality of sale, the court found it unnecessary to decide the death/nullity issue.
Holding and Implications
Holding:
The appeals are DISMISSED (appeals dismissed with costs). The Court agreed with the view adopted by the courts below that the sale of Domi Lal Sahu's money decree was not warranted by law and that the sale of the respondents' properties in the later proceedings could not be upheld.
Implications:
- Direct effect: the sale of the attached money decree was set aside as not being authorised by the Code, and the subsequent sale of the respondents' properties in the 1929 proceeding (where appellants acted as purchasers of that decree after an earlier attachment had ceased) could not be maintained. The appellants' appeals fail and they are ordered to pay costs.
- Precedential effect: the Court expressly followed the established line of High Court authorities holding that a money decree is not saleable in execution and must be dealt with under Order XXI, rule 53; the decision adheres to those precedents rather than announcing a new departure from them.
Appeals dismissed.
Fazl Ali, J.:— A preliminary point was raised on behalf of the respondents that one of these appeals (Appeal no. 12 of 1932) is barrel by limitation. It appears that the appellate order against which these appeals are directed was passed by the court below on the 1st August, 1931. Two appeals were filed in this court against this order, on the 2nd November, 1921, but only one copy of the order appealed against was filed and that copy was filed by the appellants in appeal no. 9 of 1932. On the report of the Stamp Reporter that another copy of the order should have been filed in appeal no. 12 an order was made directing the appellants concerned to file a copy and it was filed on the 12th January, 1932. It is contended by the respondents that as the copy of the order appealed against was filed on the 12th January, 1932 the appeal must be taken to have been duly presented on that date and not on the 2nd November, 1931, on which date the memorandum of appeal was filed. Technically that would be so, but, in my opinion, this is a fit case in which the period of limitation should be extended under section 5 of the Limitation Act.
Passing now to the merits of the case a few facts may be briefly stated. On the 29th October, 1918, the appellants obtained a mortgage decree as well as, a decree for costs against one Domi Lal Sahu, a namesake of one of the appellants. The mortgage decree was satisfied by the sale of the mortgaged properties and in 1926 the appellants applied for execution of the decree for costs. It appears that Domi Lal Sahu, the judgment-debtor, had taken out execution against the predecessors-in-interest of the respondents in respect of a money decree which he held against them. This decree was sold in execution of the appellants' decree and was purchased by the appellants with the result that the execution case in the course of which this decree was purchased was dismissed in 1927. Subsequently in 1929 the appellants started a fresh execution case and in the course of this execution they purchased certain properties belonging to the respondents. It may be mentioned here that on the 13th January, 1930, three days before the sale, certain objections were raised by the respondents to the execution proceedings but they were dismissed for default on the 16th January, 1930. On that day the properties in question belonging to the respondents were sold and purchased by the appellants. The respondents then preferred certain objections against the sale both under section 47 and under Order XXI, rule 90, of the Civil Procedure Code. One of these objections was that the money decree which Domi Lal Sahu, the judgment-debtor of the appellants, had obtained against the respondents could not be sold in execution of the appellants' decree and that the appellants should have followed the procedure laid down in Order XXI, rule 53, of the Civil Procedure Code to realise their decree. Another objection was that one Narendra Prasad Singh, one of the judgment-debtors against whom Domi Lal Sahu sought to execute his decree and who also represented the other minor judgment-debtors, had died before the passing of the decree and so the decree obtained by Domi Lal Sahu was a nullity and incapable of execution. The third objection was that the processes in the execution proceedings were not served at all and in fact could not have been served because they were directed against a dead person, amongst others.
The executing Court before which these objections were preferred held that the sale of the money decree was illegal and that the decree-holders not having proceeded under Order XXI, rule 53, the sale of the properties of the respondents could not be upheld. It also came to the conclusion on certain oral and documentary evidence adduced on behalf of the respondents that Narendra Prasad Singh had died before the passing of the decree in favour of Domi Lal Sahu, the appellants' original judgment-debtor.
The sale having been set aside the appellants appealed to the District Judge of Monghyr who also upheld the contention of the respondents that the sale of the money decree was not provided for under the Code and that the procedure followed by the appellants was not in accordance with law. The learned District Judge, however, did not record a finding on the question as to whether Narendra Prasad Singh had died before the passing of the decree or not.
The main question argued before us is whether the view taken by the courts below that the money decree could not be sold is correct. Mr. Sarjoo Prasad who appears for the appellants contends that Order XXI, rule 53, being only one among the many sections of the Civil Procedure Code which provide for the various modes in which various kinds of properties are to be attached in execution of a decree, cannot override Order XXI, rule 64, which provides that the court executing a decree may order that any property attached by it and liable to sale may be sold by the executing court and the proceeds of such sale paid to the party entitled to receive the same. It is urged that the words of rule 64 are wide enough to include a money decree and that there is no express provision either in Order XXI, rule 53, or anywhere else in the Code prohibiting the sale of a money decree by the executing court. The argument is not without substance and receives some support from the language used in Order XXI, rule 16, where it deals with a case in which a decree is transferred by operation of law. But, on the other hand, almost all the High Courts in this country seem to have taken the view that a money decree cannot be sold in execution and once such a decree is attached the procedure indicated in Order XXI, rule 53, should be followed; see Tiruvengada Chari v. Vythilinga Pillai; Jotindro Nath Chowdhry v. Dwarka Nath Dey; Sultan Koer v. Gulzari Lall; Vithaldas Prabhu v. Subraya Manjappa; Maung Lun Bye v. Maung Po Nyun and Lachman Ojha v. Chariter Ojha. It appears to me on a careful consideration of these decisions that the view which has been expressed in them must be adhered to and it is now too late to question its correctness.
Upon an examination of the various provisions with regard to the attachment of properties it would appear that in no other rule is there any provision corresponding to sub-clause (2) of Order XXI, rule 53. That clause runs as follows:—
“(2) Where a Court makes an order under clause (a) of sub-rule (1), or receives an application under sub-head (ii) of clause (b) of the said sub-rule, it shall, on the application of the creditor who has attached the decree or his judgment-debtor, proceed to execute the attached decree and apply the net proceeds in satisfaction of the decree sought to be executed.”
The sub-rule thus provides that the attaching creditor may at once proceed to execute the attached decree as if he is the representative of the holder of that decree. It is clear that if this mode is adopted no sale of the attached decree would be necessary and it appears to me to be permissible to argue that if the framers of the Code contemplated the ale of the attached decree it was unnecessary for them to make this provision. It further appears to me that this provision has been inserted in the Code not only to avoid multiplicity of execution proceedings but also to safeguard the interests of the holder of the attached decree. If the procedure indicated by sub-rule (2) of Order XXI, rule 53, is followed the surplus, if any, which might be left after satisfying the decree of the attaching creditor will become available for the benefit of the holder of the attached decree but if the decree was liable to be sold in execution this result may not always follow. In the other provisions which relate to the mode of executing and attaching varying kinds of property no express provision is made as to the modern which the decree is to be realised and it may, therefore, be inferred that in those cases the attachment must be followed by the sale of the property attached. The reference in Order XXI, rule 16, to those cases where the decree is transferred by operation of law is capable of explanation inasmuch as sub-rule (2) of Order XXI, rule 53, applies only to a decree for money and for sale in enforcement of a mortgage or charge and some provision had to be made in respect of other kinds of decree. I am, therefore, of opinion that the courts below were correct in holding that the sale of Domi Lal Sahu's money decree was not warranted by law and the question now is whether the appellants could proceed to sell the properties of the respondents in their capacity as purchasers' of that decree. It was contended by Mr. Sarjoo Prasad that the sale of the money decree should in the circumstances of the case be regarded as a merely redundant step and, therefore, liable to be ignored and it should be held that the appellants have substantially complied with the requirements of Order XXI, rule 53, in this case. The difficulty, however, in the way of the appellants seems to be this. When they proceeded to get the money decree sold and purchased it their decree against Domi Lal Sahu was satisfied and their execution case was dismissed. Under Order XXI, rule 57, upon the dismissal of an application for execution the attachment must be deemed to cease. It follows that the attachment ceased on the 9th May, 1927, upon which date the execution case was dismissed. The present execution case was started by the appellants two years later in the year 1929 and the steps which they took in this proceeding could be deemed to have been taken under Order XXI, rule 53, only if it was shewn that the property was still under attachment under that provision, but, as I have already stated, the attachment had ceased to exist and in the present execution proceeding, the appellants have proceeded in a new capacity, that is to say, in the capacity of persons who have purchased the money decree obtained by Domi Lal Sahu against the respondents. The procedure which was, therefore, adopted was not really the procedure which is contemplated in Order XXI, rule 53, and it appears to me that the courts below rightly held that the sale of the properties of the judgment-debtor in those circumstances could not be upheld. The respondents have further urged that Narendra Prasad being dead before the decree was passed the decree of Domi Lal Sahu was a, nullity. This is no doubt a substantial point and it appears that the respondents have adduced both oral and documentary evidence in support of their allegation but unfortunately the lower appellate court has not gone into the question as it should have done and in view of the fact that the appeals fail on the first point it is not necessary to deal with the matter any further. These appeals must be dismissed with costs.
Courtney Terrell, C.J:— I agree.
Appeals dismissed.
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