1. The plaintiff obtained a money decree against defendants 1 to 3 for a sum of Rs. 2,798.00. He filed E. P. 57 of 1980 on 18-2-1980 for realisation of the decree amount by attachment and sale of the properties belonging to the judgment debtors. That E. P. was dismissed on 24-9-1980 for default of the decree holder to take steps for notice to the judgment debtors. A second application E. P. 75 of 1981 for execution was filed on 16-3-1981. By that time judgment debtors 2 and 3 had died and their legal representatives were impleaded as respondents 4 to 8. The execution sought for was by sale of 52 cents of land that belonged to the deceased third judgment debtor and also by arrest and detention of the first judgment debtor in civil prison.

2. The respondents raised a contention that the decree debt should be deemed to have been completely discharged as per the provisions of S.3(a) of the Kerala Debt Relief Act, 1977 (Act 17/1977) (for short'the Act') for the reason that none of the respondents has income above Rs. 3,000/ per annum nor debt exceeding Rs. 3.000/.

3. The execution court accepting the evidence of PW-1 has entered the following finding in Para.12 of its order:

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