Section 171 of the Indian Contract Act provides for the general lien of bankers, allowing them to retain goods bailed to them as security for the general balance of account.

T.N. Vallinayagam, J.—Admit.

2. After hearing both the Counsel, the revision petition is disposed of.

3. The revision petition is filed by the Indian Overseas Bank, a nationalised bank, against the order passed in Execution No. 491 of 1998 giving direction to the judgment debtor to deposit the title deeds.

4. It is the case of the Bank that as against the Respondent, there has been several suits filed for money given by various branches of the nationalised bank and those amounts remained unrealised as on date. In such circumstances, especially when other suits have been decree, in particular O.S.591 of 1988 on the file of the High Court of Judicature at Chennai which was transferred to the Debt Recovery Tribunal, Chennai, and numbered as T.A. No. 1739 of 1997, it is certainly not open to the Court to direct the Bank to deposit the title deeds so that the judgment debtor can take the title deeds and walk away denying the bank chances of recovering the money by proceeding against the property.

5. The only point involved is: Whether the order passed by the Executing Court is right in view of Section 171 of the Indian Contract Act.

6. The learned Counsel for the Respondent would contend (1) that the branch of the Bank are different entity consequently one branch cannot make a claim against the property in the hands of the other branch. Secondly, according to him, there was a compromise decree under which moneys were to be paid and the mortgage money having been paid as early as in 1998, the question of returning the documents is only a formality and thirdly, according to him, the liability of the judgment debtor ceased with the decree being satisfied. Therefore, no question of liability to any other credit that the judgment debtor may owe in respect of the other transaction of loan obtained by the very same judgment debtor from any other branch of the Bank.

7. These contentions have been rejected as a whole. The Indian Overseas Bank, a nationalised bank, having branches all over India under the Banking Companies Act. When the head office of the nationalised bank has so many branches, all the loan transaction should be transacted through the head office and through the head office the loans are granted to the persons. Here is a clever man who gets loan from every branch probably he thought he can escape the clutches of the law by approaching different branches and raise the loan. When ultimately he was not able to escape and had to suffer a decree, he want at least to take away the property by getting back the title deeds and to avoid liability of the Bank is only for the purpose of preventing such persons who are likely to cheat or defraud the nationalised bank which lends money, provision like Section 171 of the Indian Contract Act has been made, which reads as follows:

General lien of bankers, factors, wharfingers, attorneys and policy-brokers.-Bankers, factors, wharfingers, attorneys of a High Court and policy brokers may, in the absence of a contract to the contrary, retain as a security for a general balance of account, any goods bailed to them; but no other persons have a right to retain, as a security for such balance, goods bailed to them, unless there is an express contract to that effect.

8. In fact a Division Bench of the Punjab High Court in AIR 1960 P & H 632, following the decision in The Chettinad Mercantile Bank, Ltd., by its Agent and Secretary T. Subramania Ayyar Vs. PL.A. Pichammai Achi and Anr., AIR 1945 Mad 447 , has held that "bankers lien can properly arise only over things which belong to the customer but which are held by the bank as security. In Punjab National Bank Ltd. Vs. Satyapal Virmani, AIR 1956 P & H 118 , another Division Bench of Punjab and Haryana High Court has held that "where a banker has advanced money to another, he has a lien on all securities which come into his hands for the amount of his general balance, unless there is an express contract or circumstance to the contrary. A banker can loo