PATNA HIGH COURT
V.Ramaswami and Kanhaiya Singh JJ.
Prahlad Prasad Mahrotra
Versus
Thakur Prasad Mehra And Company
Appeal From Original Order No. 214 of 1957 ;
Decided On : NOVEMBER 09, 1960
EXECUTION OF DECREE - CERTIFICATE OF EXECUTION - SECTION 41 OF THE CODE OF CIVIL PROCEDURE - INTERPRETATION - NECESSITY OF FORMAL ORDER AND JUDICIAL APPLICATION OF MIND BY TRANSFEREE COURT.
Fact of the Case:
The respondent obtained a decree against the appellant in the Calcutta High Court. The decree was transferred to the Muzaffarpur Court for execution. After the execution case was dismissed for default, the decree-holder again applied for execution. The judgment-debtor objected, arguing that the Muzaffarpur Court had no jurisdiction because it had already sent a certificate of execution to the Calcutta High Court under Section 41 of the Code of Civil Procedure (CPC).
Finding of the Court:
The court held that the Muzaffarpur Court had jurisdiction to execute the decree because there was no formal order of the transferee court directing that a certificate should be issued under Section 41 of the CPC or that such a certificate should be sent to the Calcutta High Court. The court also found that there was no proof that a certificate was in fact prepared or signed by the transferee Court and sent to the Calcutta High Court.
Issues: Whether the Muzaffarpur Court had jurisdiction to execute the decree after sending a certificate of execution to the Calcutta High Court under Section 41 of the CPC.
Ratio Decidendi: The court held that the act of sending a certificate under Section 41 of the CPC was something in the nature of a judicial act, and unless there was a formal order of the transferee court to that effect, and unless the transferee court had applied its mind judicially to the matter, a certificate purported to be sent by it under Section 41 of the CPC to the transferor court would be invalid and without jurisdiction.
Final Decision: The court dismissed the appeal and held that the Muzaffarpur Court had jurisdiction to proceed with the execution case.
1. In this case the respondent, Thakur Prasad Mehra and Company, obtained a decree against the appellant, Prahalad Prasad Mahrotra, in Suit No. 3540 of 1949 in the Calcutta High Court in its Ordinary Original Civil Jurisdiction. The decree was transferred to the Muzaffarpur Court for execution on the 24th August, 1955. On the 24th February, 1956, a notice was issued by the Muzaffarpur Court under Order 21, Rule 52, Code of Civil Procedure. On the 15th March, 1956, the execution Case was dismissed for default. But on the 15th January, 1957, the decree-holder again applied to the Muzaffarpur Court for execution of the decree.
It was objected by the Judgment-debtor that the Muzaffarpur Court had no jurisdiction to execute the decree because the Muzaffarpur Court had communicated the result of the previous execution to the Calcutta High Court on the 16th March, 1956. The contention of the Judgment-debtor was that under Section 41 of the Code of Civil Procedure the Muzaffarpur Court had sent a certificate to the Calcutta High Court about the result of the execution and hence the Muzaffarpur Court had no jurisdiction to entertain a fresh application for execution of the same decree. The argument of the judgment-debtor was rejected by the Muzaffarpur Court on the 5th June, 1957. Against this order the Judgment-debtor has presented this appeal to the High Court.
2. On behalf of the appellant the contention of the Advocate General was that there is a note in the remarks column of the suit register as follows: "Result sent on 16-3-56." It was submitted by the Advocate General that the Communication must have been sent to the Calcutta High Court about the result of the execution and this was tantamount to a certificate as contemplated by Section 41 of the Code of Civil Procedure. We do not accept the argument of the Advocate General as correct. All that the entry in the register indicates is that an information was sent to the Calcutta High Court relating to the dismissal of Money Execution Case No. 104 of 1955.
The order sheet of the execution case does not show that the presiding officer directed that a certificate should be sent under Sec. 41 of the Code of Civil Procedure to the Calcutta High Court regarding the dismissal of Money Execution Case No. 104 of 1955 on the 15th March, 1956. There is also no proof adduced on behalf of the appellant that a certificate was sent to the Calcutta High Court under Sec. 41 of the Code of Civil Procedure. It was submitted by the Advocate General that no formal certificate is necessary to be sent under the provisions of Sec. 41 of the Code of Civil Procedure, which is in the following terms: "41. The Court to which a decree is sent for execution shall certify to the Court which passed it the fact of such execution, or where the former Court fails to execute the same the circumstances attending such failure."
In support of this proposition the learned Advocate General relied upon a decision of this High Court in Darsan Singh V/s. Baldeo Das, AIR 1946 Pat 365 where there is an observation of Meredith, J., that Sec. 41 prescribed no particular form of the certificate, and in his judgment, the sending of an intimation that the execution case has been dismissed as infractuous would amount to a sufficient compliance with the provisions of the section. We do not think that this opinion of Meredith, J. can be treated as a ratio decidendi in that case, because the question for decision in that case was whether the transfer-ror court had jurisdiction to execute a decree in the absence of a certificate sent under Sec. 41 of the Code of Civil Procedure by the transferee court.
In the course of his judgment Meredith, J. proceeded to say that even if it be assumed that not certificate was sent under Sec. 41 of the Code of Civil Procedure by the transferee court, still the transferor court would have jurisdiction to execute the decree. Any observation of Meredith, J. therefore, with regard to the construc
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