JUDGMENT : The defendant judgment-debtor in O. S. No. 4 of 1942 on the file of the Subordinate Judge, Sivaganga, was the appellant in the lower appellate Court and in the appeal in this appeal.

2. One Panchaksharam Chettiar obtained a decree on 25-9-1942, against the appellants father for recovery of Rs. 3300 odd in O. S. No. 4 of 1942, on the file of the Subordinate Judge, Sivaganga. The appellants brother filed I. A. No. 18 of 1950 on 14-9-1949 under S. 19 of Madras Act IV of 1938 to have the debt scaled down. An order was passed in that application on 29-8-1950 scaling down the debt to Rs. 2100 odd. The appellants brother preferred an appeal A. S. No. 3 of 1951 to the District Judge, Ramanathapuram, praying that the debt be scaled down to a lower figure. The District Judge passed an order on 20-8-1951 not refusing merely that further scaling down that was prayed for, but disallowing altogether the appellants claim to scaling down. He declared that the amount payable by the appellant and his brother under the decree was the amount due on the decree dated 25-9-1942 in accordance with its apparent tenor.

That was a wholly wrong order to make because the respondents, the lega