1920 Supreme(Mad) 125
IN THE HIGH COURT OF MARAS
Oldfield, S Aiyar
N. Viswanatha Sastri
Versus
Sitalakshmi Ammal And Ors.
Decided On : 25 March, 1920
The main legal point established in the judgment is the determination of the applicable legal framework for execution proceedings and the interpretation of the limitation period for obtaining a final decree.
Headnote:
Transfer of Property Act - Execution Proceedings - Section 88, Section 89, Article 112, Schedule I, Limitation Act - The court discussed the applicability of the Transfer of Property Act and the Civil Procedure Code to the execution proceedings. It also considered the limitation period for an application to obtain a final decree and the effect of the repeal of the Transfer of Property Act on the proceedings. The court held that the proceedings were regulated by the Transfer of Property Act and the petitioner was entitled to execution until a specific date, and therefore allowed the appeal.
Fact of the Case:
The appellant obtained a decree in 1907, and after various proceedings, filed an application for execution in 1918. The lower Court held that the application was barred by limitation.
Finding of the Court:
The Court found that the proceedings were regulated by the Transfer of Property Act and the petitioner was entitled to execution until a specific date, and therefore allowed the appeal.
Issues: The main issues were the applicability of the Transfer of Property Act and the Civil Procedure Code to the execution proceedings, the limitation period for an application to obtain a final decree, and the effect of the repeal of the Transfer of Property Act on the proceedings.
Ratio Decidendi: The court held that the proceedings were regulated by the Transfer of Property Act and the petitioner was entitled to execution until a specific date, and therefore allowed the appeal.
Final Decision: The decision of the lower Court was reversed, and the execution application was restored to file and to be proceeded with according to law. No relief was given against the legal representative of the judgment-debtor.
Oldfield, J.
1. The appellant, petitioner, obtained a decree in the form authorized by Section 88, Transfer of Property A at, on 25th September 1907, time being allowed for payment until 25th March 1908. There was an appeal to this Court which ended maturely in his favour on 23rd February 1901, no further extension of time being given, and the next proceeding was taken on 30th February 1914 by an execution petition headed as presented under Order XXI, Rule 11. In it, tale of the property was inked for and also the passing of a final Jure; and the latter relief was also or separately on 20th March 1914, became; he Court had returned the petition for the creation as to why a separate petition or Such a decree should not be filed. The petition of 20th February 1914 was, however, disliked on 1st August 14, for Failure to pay batter. On 3rd Marsh 1915, the it respondent in the lower Court reported that he had paid Rs. 8 COO towards the, alleging that ha did so in accordance with a direction given to declare it, when he purchased the mortgaged property in 1907, applied to have satisfaction entered to that extent and asked that he might have notice of any future application by face decree-holder. The present application for an order absolute and for realization of the amount due by sale was filed on 16th January 1918. The Question is whether it is in time.
2. It was presented as being so with reference Saturday to the payment of Rs. 8,000 and Section 19, Limitation Act, and I return to that contention. But the main difficulties are those with which the lower Court has dealt; and, if they are insuperable, the consequence will be that the petitioner allowed the proceedings to terminate before the application in conception with the 4th respondents payment, and his right to continue them could not be prolonged or revived by it. Under the Transfer of Property Act, which was in force when petitioners Built was tried and his decree was obtained, proceedings after Each decree, including the obtaining of the order absolute referred to in Section 89, would be proceedings in execution subject to Article 112, Schedule I, Limitation Act, which would be taken for 12 years, if applied. creations were made at intervals of not more than three, this being the law as enunciated in this Courts relent decision, Muhammad Husain Saib v. Abdul Karamu Saib 29 Ind. Cas. 237 : 39 M. 544 : 17 M.L.T. 424 on consideration of the judgments of the Judicial Committee therein referred to. If the proceedings, as petitioner contends, were throughout under the Transfer of Property Act, and in execution, there is no don that there was still an executable decree on 5th July 1915, when the fourth respondent reported his payment, because the petitioners right to execute arose under Article 182 on 23rd February 1911, the date of the appellate decree, and was prolonged by his application on 20th February 1914 until 20th February 1917, This, however, is disputed, because on 1st January 1809, whilst the appeal was pending, Sections 88 and 89 of the Transfer of Property Act were repealed and Order XXXIV of the present Civil Procedure Code came into force. Under Rules 4 and 5 of that Order the stage of execution at which Article 182 can be applied, is reached only when a final decree has been obtained under the latter, and the limitation period for an application to obtain such a decree is, under Article 181, three years from the date on which the period allowed for payment expired. If, as the lower Court has held, the Code procedure became applicable to the ease, the three years were exhausted on 25th March 1St, since no period for payment as fixed in the appellate decree ever came or could come into existence.
3. Some arguments were addressed to us for respondents to show that the original decree was superseded by the decree in the appeal, the assumption being that, as the latter was passed after the repeal of the Transfer Property Act, it must be regarded as having bean p