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1952 Supreme(Pat) 72

PATNA HIGH COURT
S.K.Das and V.Ramaswami JJ.
Benode Sahu
Versus
Dilwar Jama Khan
Letter Patent Appeal No. 13 of 1948 ;
Decided On : JULY 14, 1952

A second execution cannot be levied after a sale in execution has been confirmed and the execution case dismissed on full satisfaction, without setting aside the sale under Order XXI, Rule 91, Code of Civil Procedure.

Headnote:

EXECUTION OF DECREE - Second Execution - Maintainability - Sale in Execution - Confirmation - Dismissal of Execution Case on Full Satisfaction - Subsequent Application for Fresh Execution - Order XXI, Rule 91 and 92, Code of Civil Procedure.

Fact of the Case:

The appellant obtained a decree against the respondent and executed it in March 1944. Certain properties of the judgment-debtor were sold and purchased by the appellant in August 1944. The sale was confirmed in September 1944 and the execution case was dismissed on full satisfaction in October 1944. When the appellant asked for delivery of possession, he was resisted by the wife of the judgment-debtor, who preferred an objection under Order XXI, Rule 100, Code of Civil Procedure. The claim of the wife of the judgment-debtor was allowed in February 1945. In April 1945, the appellant applied for a fresh execution of the decree, ignoring the sale and the order dismissing the execution case. The Munsif held that the appellant not having applied to set aside the sale under Order XXI, Rule 91, Code of Civil Procedure within thirty days of the sale, a fresh execution petition was not maintainable. The District Judge reversed the decision of the Munsif, but on appeal, Reuben J. restored the decision of the Munsif.

Finding of the Court:

The court held that the appellant not having taken any steps to set aside the sale within time, under the provisions of Order XXI, Rule 91, Code of Civil Procedure, the sale has become absolute under the provisions of Order XXI, Rule 92, Code of Civil Procedure. There has been no such adjudication either in the execution proceeding itself or in a collateral proceeding which can be said to have the effect of setting aside the sale which was held on the 13th of August, 1944.

Issues: Whether a second execution can be levied after a sale in execution has been confirmed and the execution case dismissed on full satisfaction, without setting aside the sale under Order XXI, Rule 91, Code of Civil Procedure.

Ratio Decidendi: A second execution cannot be levied after a sale in execution has been confirmed and the execution case dismissed on full satisfaction, without setting aside the sale under Order XXI, Rule 91, Code of Civil Procedure. The sale becomes absolute under Order XXI, Rule 92, Code of Civil Procedure, if no steps are taken to set it aside within thirty days.

Final Decision: The appeal was dismissed.

Judgment

Das, J.

1. This is an appeal under the Letters Patent from the decision of a Single Judge of this Court, dated the 28th January, 1948. The facts out of which the appeal arises may be shortly stated. The appellant before us obtained a decree for a sum of Rs. 266/- and . odd annas against the respondent on the 4th of November, 1943. The decree was put in execution in March, 1944, and on the 13th of August, 1944, certain properties of the judg- ment-debtor were sold and purchased by the appellant. On the 21st oi September, 1944, the sale was confirmed and on the 9th of October, 1944, the execution case was dismissed on full satisfaction of the decree. When the appellant asked for delivery of possession, he was resisted by the wife of the judgment-debtor, who preferred an objection under the provisions of Order XXI, Rule 100, Code of Civil Procedure. This gave rise to a miscellaneous proceeding, and the claim of the wife of the judgment-debtor was allowed on the 14th of February, 1945.

Some two months after, on the 11th of April. 1945, the appellant applied for a iresh execu- tion of the decree, ignoring the sale which had taken place and the order dismissing the execution case on full satisfaction, passed on the 9th of October, 1944. The learned Munsif who dealt with the application in the first instance held that the appellant not having applied to set aside the sale under the provisions of Order XXI, Rule 91, Code of Civil Procedure within thirty days of the sale, a fresh execution petition was not maintainable. Against this order of the learned Munsif there was an appeal to the District Judge, who reversed the decision of the learned Munsif and held that the second application for execution was not hit by the provisions of Order XXI, Rule 91, or Rule 92, Code of Civil Procedure : therefore, he held that the second execution was maintainable. In second appeal Reuben J. (as he then was) reversed the decision of the learned District Judge, and restored that of the learned Munsif, holding that a second execution was not maintainable in the circumstances of the case.

2. Mr. K. D. Chatterji, appearing on behalf of the appellant, has contended before us that in view of the order passed in the proceeding under Order XXI, Rule 100, Code of Civil Procedure, the sale was in substance held to be ineffective; therefore, it was open to the appel-lant to levy a fresh execution of the decree. Learned Counsel has placed great reliance on two decisions of this court -- Radha Kishun Lal V/s. Kashi Lal, 2 Pat. 829 and -- Bibi Uma-tul Rasul V/s. Lakho Kuer, 20 Pat. 261. In --Radha Kishun Lals case, 2 Pat 829, the facts were these. Subsequent to the purchase of a certain property in execution of his decree by the decree-holder, a third person sued the auction-purchaser and the judgment-debtor for a declaration of his title to the property and for possession and obtained a decree. It was held that the effect of the decree in favour of the third person was to set aside the execution sale and revive the decretal debt, and that no formal order setting aside the sale was necessary. Mullick, J. with whom Bucknill, J. concurred, gave the following reasons in support of the decision :

"The decree-holder and the judgment-debtor were both parties to the suit and, therefore they are bound by the order. The argument that under the present Civil Procedure Code no sale can be set aside, except by a resort to the procedure of Order XXI is. in my opinion, not well founded; nor is it necessary that the execution court should formally cancel the order of satisfaction which was recorded after the saJe of lot No. 1. before the-decree-holder can proceed to recover the debt which has been revived in consequence of the decree declaring the sale of lot No. 1 to be-invalid."

3. In the case of -- Bibi Umatul Rasul 20 Pat. 261 the facts were these :

A decree for money was put in execution, and in execution of that decree certain properties were attached. Upon the att





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