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1977 Supreme(Guj) 4

Gujarat High Court
B. K. MEHTA
Vrajlal Jagjivandas Pandya - Appellant
Versus
Jaswantlal Shivlal - Respondent
First Appeal No. 161 of 1975
Decided On : 01/12/1977

Advocates:
Mrs. K.A. Mehta, for Appellant:J.G. Shah, (for No. 1) and S.N. Shelat (for No. 2), for Respondents.

Headnote:

Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 - Section 47 - Land transferred - Gift - Execution of decree - Hindu Colony Co-operative Housing Society Limited - Appellant contended that in any case the part of the plot of the land sought to be attached was transferred by him to his wife by way of gift and, therefore, also the property in question was not liable to be attached and sold in execution of the decree - Held, The order which has been made by the learned City Civil Judge requires to be modified - Learned City Civil Judge has directed the Society to sell the property which has been attached according to the instructions given by him at Ex. 16 on the record of the Darkhast - The proper order which could have been made by the Executing Court should be that whatever right, title and interest the judgment-debtor had in the plot of land allotted to him by the Society should be put to sale by auction - Subject to this modification, the directions given by the learned City Civil Judge as to how the sale is to be affected and as to the deposit to be made of the sale proceeds are confirmed - Appeal partially allowed

JUDGMENT:-

This is an appeal under S. 47 of the Code of Civil Procedure at the instance of original opponent No. 1 the judgment-debtor. Respondent No. 1. herein obtained a decree in Summary Suit No. 26 of 1966 on the file of City Civil Court, Ahmedabad for Rupees 12,991/- and interest thereon against the present appellant. Respondent No. 1 herein applied for execution of the said decree by seeking to attach the part of the plot No. 14 belonging to the judgment-debtor the appellant herein and situated within Hindu Colony Co-operative Housing Society Limited. The appellant raised certain objections against the execution contending, inter alia, that the plot of land or a portion of it is not liable to be attached as he has no right or interest in the said plot of land which in fact and law belonged to the Co-operative Society and it was merely allotted to a member by the Society and, therefore, he had no saleable interest whatsoever therein. The appellant also contended that in any case the part of the plot of the land sought to be attached was transferred by him to his wife by way of gift and, therefore, also the property in question was not liable to be attached and sold in execution of the decree.

2. So far as the first contention was concerned, the Executing Court accepted the contention of the judgment-debtor that he was merely an allottee of the plot of land from the Co-operative Society concerned and that the allotment by a Society to a member does not amount to a transfer and does not create any interest in the plot of land in favour of the member concerned. However, in the opinion of the Executing Court, the plot of land directly represented the judgment-debtor's contribution in the Society towards the land purchase account and, therefore, what was really attached was not the piece of land but corresponding contribution of the judgment-debtor in the land purchase account of the Society which is admittedly the property of the judgment-debtor.

3. The second contention about the gift to the wife by the judgment-debtor was not seriously pressed before the Executing Court. The learned City Civil Judge, therefore, passed the following order:

"In the result, I dismiss all the objections raised by Mr. K.B. Bhatt for the judgment debtor and direct that the third party co-operative housing society will proceed to sell the property attached and ordered to be sold at Ex. 16 of the aforesaid Misc. Civil Application No. 566 of 1971 and act as directed in that order."

This order of the Executing Court of December 12, 1974 is the subject matter of this first appeal.

4. At the time of hearing of this appeal, Mrs. K.A. Mehta, learned Advocate, appearing for the judgment-debtor who is appellant before me, urged that the judgment-debtor who is an allottee-member of the Co-operative Society concerned has no right or interest in the plot of land allotted to him by the Society and, therefore, the Executing Court was in error in directing the sale of the plot of land sought to be attached by respondent No. 1 who is a judgment-creditor. In submission of Mrs. Mehta, on true construction of the relevant Bye-laws of the Society concerned, there is no saleable interest in the plot of land allotted to a member and, therefore, the order directing the sale of the plot of the land must be set aside.

5. I am of the opinion that there is not much substance in the contentions advanced on behalf of the appellant. In Ramesh Himmatlal Shah v. Harsukh Jadhavji Joshi, AIR 1975 SC 1470 a similar point arose before the Supreme Court, namely, whether the right of the judgment-debtor who claimed the right of occupation of flat No. 9 belonging to one Paresh Co-operative Housing Society Limited at Santacruz, Bombay, was liable to attachment and sell in execution of a decree. The Supreme Court considered the scheme of the Maharashtra Co-operative Societies Act, 1960 and the Bye-laws of the Paresh Co-operative Housing Society Limited in details and Mr. Justice Goswami, spea







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