1941 Supreme(Mad) 329
IN THE HIGH COURT OF MADRAS
Wadsworth, J.
Sunkarapalli Ranganayakulu and Anr.
Versus
Gona Gopayamma and Anr.
Decided On : 22.09.1941
Important Points
Subject
Civil Law - Execution of Decrees
Headnote
Section 23 - Act IV of 1938 - Summary of Acts and Sections: Section 23, Section 7, Section 19 - The court discussed the applicability of Section 23 of Act IV of 1938 in setting aside the sale of a mortgage right, the scaling down of debts payable by an agriculturist under Section 7, and the provisions relating to decrees under Section 19. The court emphasized that an agriculturist must be entitled to the benefits of the Act with reference to the particular debt and not merely generally.
Fact of the Case:
The civil revision petition arose from an application under Section 23 of Act IV of 1938. The petitioners were the decree-holder and the Court auction-purchaser in execution of the decree. The judgment-debtor transferred her mortgage right to her daughter, and both joined in an application under Section 23 to set aside the sale of the mortgage right.
Finding of the Court:
The court found that the original judgment-debtor did not have any saleable interest in agricultural lands, and the transferee, who was an agriculturist, could not apply under Section 23. The court also held that debts incurred after the commencement of the Act may be covered by Section 13, and debts that have ceased to be payable when the Act came into force cannot be affected by any provision of the Act.
Issues: The issues involved the entitlement of an agriculturist to the benefits of the Act with reference to a particular debt, the applicability of the Act to debts incurred after its commencement, and the interpretation of provisions relating to decrees under the Act.
Ratio Decidendi: The court emphasized that an agriculturist must be entitled to the benefits of the Act with reference to the particular debt and not merely generally. It also clarified the applicability of the Act to debts incurred after its commencement and the interpretation of provisions relating to decrees under the Act.
Final Decision: The civil revision petition was entitled to succeed, and the order of the lower Court was set aside. Respondents 1 and 2 were ordered to pay the costs of the petitioners in both the Courts.
Wadsworth, J.
1. This civil revision petition arises out of an application under Section 23 of Act IV of 1938. The petitioners here arc the decree-holder and the Court auction-purchaser in execution of the decree. The decree in question was passed in a Small Cause suit and is dated 30th October, 1933. The present second respondent was the judgment-debtor. In June, 1934 the decree-holder in execution attached a mortgage debt due to the judgment-debtor, the second respondent. The attachment was made under Order 21, Rule 46, Civil Procedure Code. On the 9th October, 1935, while the attachment was still pending, the judgment-debtor transferred her mortgage right to her daughter, the first respondent. In November, 1937 the mortgage right was sold by the Court in execution of the Small Cause decree and it was purchased by the second petitioner here. On the 7th January, 1938, as would appear from the execution records, full satisfaction of the Small Cause decree was recorded. On the 15th June, 1938, after Act IV of 1938 had come into force, the judgment-debtor and her transferee both joined in an application under Section 23 to set aside the sale of the mortgage right. We will assume without deciding that a sale of a mortgage right, even though carried through under the procedure prescribed in Order 21 for the sale of debts and other movable properties is, for the purpose of Section 23" of Act IV of 1938, a sale of immovable properties. It is difficult to see, even assuming so much, how this application was entitled to succeed as it did in the lower Court. In the first place, the original judgment-debtor, the second-respondent, has not been proved to have any saleable interest in agricultural lands. Her daughter, the first respondent was at the relevant tittle an agriculturist. The actual judgment-debtor, not being shown to be an agriculturist, cannot apply under Section 23. It is contended that the transferee who is an agriculturist can apply under Section 23 and for this purpose it is urged that she was under what has been described as a property liability to satisfy the decree. The contention is of course based on the case of Perianna v. Sellappa AIR1939Mad186 and also on a decision of ours in Palani Goundan v. Peria Goundan (1949) 2 M.L.J. 887 where following Piericmna v. Sellappa AIR1939Mad186 , we held that a purchaser of the equity of redemption who is bound by a mortgage decree, being a debtor, could also be deemed to be a judgment-debtor, though not actually a party to the suit. It does not seem to us, however, that either of these cases is an authority for the view that, when property has been attached in execution of a money decree and is sold in disregard of that attachment, the purchaser is liable to pay the decree debt. The true way of looking at the matter having regard to the terms of Section 64, Civil Procedure Code, is that the transfer is void as against claims enforceable under the attachment, so that the transferee can be ignored by the decree-holder and the attachment can be worked out by proceedings in execution against the transferor as still being the owner of the property for the purpose of the execution of his decree. The attachment creates no charge and there is therefore no property liability to pay the decree in so far as the property which passed to the transferee pending the attachment is concerned. If this reasoning is correct it follows that the first respondent, who is the only agriculturist, is not a judgment-debtor.
2. There is another difficulty in the way of the applicants. The decree in this case was satisfied on 7th January, 1938. Section 7, which is the basic section for most of the provisions of Act IV, declares that, all debts payable by an agriculturist at the commencement of this. Act, shall be. scaled down, in accordance with the provisions of this chapter.
It does not appear that any debts incurred after the commencement of the Act will come under the general provisions though they