2001 Supreme(AP) 1501
Andhra Pradesh High Court
Judges : P.S.NARAYANA
Nagasuri Subba Rao - Appellant
Versus
Nagasuri Kameswaramma - Respondent
Decided On : 11-26-01
Headnote:
Transfer of Property Act - Section 100 - Convenience - Suit was decreed - Contention of decree-holder - Petitioner-wife in filed E. P on file of Subordinate Judge along with her daughter for execution seeking relief of realization of E. P. amount by way of attachment of amount of lying in Court deposit which represents surplus sale proceeds realized by sale of charged property - Petitioner-husband in filed on file of the Subordinate Judge praying relief of issuance of cheque - For purpose of convenience wife will be referred to as decree-holder and husband will be referred to as judgment-debtor for relief of maintenance and said suit was decreed creating charge over suit schedule property and she had filed for recovery of arrears of maintenance and in said E. P. charged property was sold in Court auction – Held, It may be that decree-holder-wife feels it more convenient to attach this cash lying in Court deposit instead of proceeding against charged property by putting further execution in this regard – However this question already had fallen for consideration case and clear opinion had been expressed that charge will not be extinguished and maintenance decree can be further executed by proceeding against such charged property - In light of said legal provision only conclusion this Court can arrive is that decree-holder-wife is entitled to proceed against charged property since she has a right to enforce maintenance decree against said property - As far as the surplus sale proceeds are concerned judgment-debtor-husband alone is entitled to said surplus sale proceeds - It is not in serious dispute that dismissal of cheque petition was on certain irrelevant grounds - Order accordingly
( 1 ) C. R. P. No. 1619/98 is filed by the revision petitioner-wife aggrieved by an order dated 12-9-1997 passed in E. P. No. 48/96 in O. S. No. 23/84 on the file of the Subordinate Judge, Addanki. C. R. P. No. 4782/97 is filed by the revision petitioner-husband aggrieved by an order dated 12-9-1997 passed in E. P. No. 17/91 in O. S. No. 23/84 on the file of the Subordinate Judge, Addanki. Since, both the revision petitions are inter-connected, they are being disposed of by a common order.
( 2 ) THE facts in brief are as follows : the revision petitioner-wife in C. R. P. No. 1619/98 filed E. P. No. 48/96 in O. S. No. 23/84 on the file of the Subordinate Judge, Addanki along with her daughter for execution seeking relief of realisation of the E. P. amount by way of attachment of the amount of Rs. 1,41,612/- lying in the Court deposit, which represents the surplus sale proceeds realised by sale of the charged property. The revision petitioner-husband in C. R. P. No. 4782/97 filed E. A. No. 83/96 in E. P. No. 17/91 in O. S. No. 23/84 on the file of the Subordinate Judge, Addanki, praying the relief of issuance of cheque for Rs. 1,41,612/ -. For the purpose of convenience, the wife will be referred to as decree-holder and the husband will be referred to as judgment-debtor.
( 3 ) THE contention of the decree-holder is that she filed a suit in O. S. No. 23/84 against the judgment-debtor for the relief of maintenance and the said suit was decreed on 28-12-1984 creating charge over the suit schedule property and she had filed E. P. No. 17/91 for recovery of arrears of maintenance and in the said E. P. the charged property was sold in Court auction and the surplus sale proceeds were deposited into Court and thus, she is entitled to recover her arrears of maintenance from the said surplus sale proceeds lying in Court deposit and that her charge over the suit schedule property had been extinguished in view of the sale held in E. P. No. 17/91 and hence, the stand taken by the decree-holder was that from out of the surplus sale proceeds lying in Court deposit, she is entitled to recover the amount. The judgment-debtor had taken a stand that the decree-holder is not entitled to seek attachment of the surplus sale proceeds lying in Court deposit and the remedy available to the decree-holder is to bring the decree schedule property for sale if the auction-purchaser does not pay the arrears of maintenance and the contention that the charge over the property got extinguished cannot be sustained. The Court below after detailed discussion and placing reliance on Annapragada Venkata Lakshmi Ramanam-ma v. Annapragada Sitaramanjaneya Sarma, 1977 (2) APLJ 136, had arrived at a conclusion that the charge created in the suit schedule property does not extinguish in spite of its sale in Court auction for realisation of the arrears of maintenance due to the decree-holder and it continues, and as such the only remedy available to the decree-holder is to proceed against the charged property being in the hands of the auction- purchaser. The Court below also had expressed the view that the decree-holder cannot lay any claim over the surplus sale proceeds lying in the Court and the only remedy of the decree-holder to satisfy the future arrears of maintenance will be to proceed against the charged property lying in the hands of the auction-purchaser and ultimately, the Court below came to the conclusion that the E. P. filed by the decree-holder is liable to be dismissed and accordingly, the same was dismissed and aggrieved by the same, the wife had preferred C. R. P. No. 1619/98 on the ground that the judgment-debtor has no right to claim the surplus sale proceeds lying in Court deposit on certain irrelevant grounds.
( 4 ) MRS. K. Malleswari, the learned counsel representing the judgment-debtor-husband had strenuously contended that the cheque petition filed by the husband should have been ordered and the impugned order shows that the dismiss