2006 Supreme(Cal) 542
High Court Of Calcutta
KALYAN JYOTI SENGUPTA, J.
BIRLA CORPORATION LTD. - Appellant
Versus
PRASAD TRADING Company - Respondent
E. C. 6 Of 2006
Decided On : 08/29/2006
The amendment to Section 39 of the Civil Procedure Code did not take away the power of the court that passed the decree to execute the decree against any person residing or property situated outside its local limit, provided that such execution was not ordinarily possible or convenient.
Headnote:
EXECUTION OF DECREE - JURISDICTION - POWER OF EXECUTING COURT - COURT THAT PASSED THE DECREE - WHETHER CAN EXECUTE THE DECREE AGAINST ANY PERSON RESIDING OR PROPERTY SITUATED OUTSIDE ITS LOCAL LIMIT - CIVIL PROCEDURE CODE, 1908 - SECTION 38, 39.
Fact of the Case:
The issue before the court was whether the court that passed the decree had the authority to execute the decree against any person residing or property situated outside its local limit, in light of the amendment to Section 39 of the Civil Procedure Code.
Finding of the Court:
The court held that the court that passed the decree had the authority to execute the decree against any person residing or property situated outside its local limit, provided that such execution was not ordinarily possible or convenient.
Issues: 1. Whether the amendment to Section 39 of the Civil Procedure Code took away the power of the court that passed the decree to execute the decree against any person residing or property situated outside its local limit? 2. Whether the court's discretionary power to execute the decree by itself was curtailed by the amendment to Section 39?
Ratio Decidendi: 1. The court interpreted the amendment to Section 39 in light of the parent provision of Section 39 and other relevant provisions of the Civil Procedure Code. 2. The court held that the word 'shall' mentioned in subsection (4) of Section 39 was not intended to mean as being mandatory and could not be read inconsistently with the sub-section (1) of Section 39. 3. The court held that the court's discretionary power to execute the decree by itself was not curtailed by the amendment to Section 39.
Final Decision: The court held that all the execution applications were entertainable, but it had to be examined on each and every individual case whether execution could be levied under the equitable mode or not.
( 2 ) MR. A, K. Mitra, Senior Advocate, while leading the argument in support of the point that this Court has not lost its jurisdiction, submits that the power of the executing court flows from Section 38 of the Code. It will appear from the reading of the language of the said section that the decree may be executed by the Court which has passed it or by the Court to which it is sent for execution. Therefore, it is clear that the Court, which has passed a decree, does not lose jurisdiction to execute it irrespective of location of the property or residence of the person against whom decree is sought to be executed. According to him, it is the convenience of the executing Court either to execute it by itself or to send it to some other court. The intention of the legislature is that the decree by the Civil Court should not be allowed to be frustrated and the Court must see by any lawful means the fruit thereof is enjoyed. The legislature mandates, if one reads the language of the said Section 39 sub-section (1), clearly that it is the discretion of the Court which has passed the decree, and that too only on the application of the decree holder to send it for execution to another Court of competent jurisdiction under the circumstances as mentioned in clauses (a), (b), (c) and (d) of the said subsection. Therefore, he contends that newly inserted sub-section (4) in Section 39 has to be read conjointly with rest portion of the sections 39 and 38. By this provision original power of execution of the Court, which has passed decree, amongst other appointing receivers, cannot be taken away. His further contention is that the Learned Single judge rendered the decision noted above, without having assistance of the previous catena of decisions rendered by this Court on this point whereby and whereunder it has been uniformly held that this Court while executing a decree without sending the same for execution to another Court had executed it by appointing a Receiver over property situate outside jurisdiction or requiring the person residing outside jurisdiction of this court to be present before the Court for execution. The following are the large number of decisions : ilr 66 Cal 513 ilr 14 Cal 661 ilr 15 Cal 667 ilr 19 Cal 13 air 1930 Cal 502 air 1937 Cal 570
( 3 ) HE urges thereafter that the practice and procedure which is followed from the inception of this Court has got the effect of rule framed by this Court, which in its turn has been held to be the effect of supreme legislation. The provisions of the Original side Rules framed by this Court override the provisions of Civil Procedure Code and this principle of law has been decided long time back by Full Bench decision of this Court in case of Manickchand Durgaprasad v. Pratabmull Rameswar reported in AIR 1961 cal 483 (Full Bench ). The aforesaid Full bench decision of this Court held in paragraph 13 as follows :
"the restriction upon the power of the court as contained in the proviso to Cl. 37 of the Letters Patent is that the rules fr