1. What is the position of a guarantor (or even a surety) vis-a-vis the creditor-has he any obligation is a fiduciary capacity to account to the creditor? If he has, he is not entitled to advance a plea of "no means", when the decree-holder takes out execution proceedings for his arrest and detention. The petitioner is one of the judgment-debtors. The court below spurned down his plea that he has no means to pay the decree debt on the reasoning that he, being the guarantor, is in a fiduciary capacity to account to the decree-holder.

2. The State Bank of India ('the Bank' for short) advanced a loan to one Krishnan on a guarantee given by the petitioner for the due repayment of the loan. The bank filed a suit and obtained a decree against Krishnan as well as the petitioner. Krishnan died in the meanwhile and the bank proceeded against the petitioner in execution. The decree-holder prayed for issuance of a warrant of arrest against the petitioner. It was resisted by the petitioner contending that he has no means to pay the decree debt. The court below, by the impugned order, held that such a plea is not available to him. The short order of the lower court is extracted below