The court clarified the applicability of Code of Civil Procedure provisions to parties to suits and the rights of claimants in execution sales.

1. The 5th defendant obtain-ed a money decree against the 1st and 4th defendants in a suit in which the 2nd and 3rd defendants were parties but were exonerated from liability. The decree holder attached the undivided half share of the judgment-debtors in, certain property, alleged to belong to the undivided family of which the four defendants were members, and there upon the 2nd defendant applied by a petition under Order XXI, Rule 58, of the Code of Civil Procedure that the attachment of portion of the property might be raised on the ground that it had been assigned to him upon a partition and was his separate property. The petition was dismissed on the ground that it was too late. The appellant bought the attached properly at the Court sale and then sued the defendants for partition, and an issue was raised whether the portion of the property previously claimed by the 2nd defendant belonged to him.

2. The appellant was not a party to the previous suit and is not a representative of any party Nadamuni Narayana Iyengar v. Veerabhadra Pillai 8 Ind. Cas. 429 : 34 M. 417 : (1910) M.W.N. 662 : 9 M.L.T. 152 : 21 M.L.J. 928 and the provisions of Section 47 of the Code of Civil Procedure do rot apply to his suit. The question, therefore, is whether under Order XX, Rule 63 the order made upon the 2nd defendants petition in the proceedings in execution precludes him from raising this defence.

3. The argument on behalf of the 2nd defendant appears to be that Rules 58 to 63, of that Order do not apply to parties to suits, who are governed by Section 47, and that applications under that section are in some manner independent of the rules.

4. Section 47(1) contains two provisions, of which the first is positive and prescribes the Court which shall determine certain questions, and, therefore, relates to jurisdiction : the second is negative and declares that the application to the Court shall not be initiated by a plaint. If a plaint raising any of these questions he presented to the Court executing the decree it may be treated as a proceeding in execution but if it be presented to another Court it should be rejected. In the former case the Court nay treat a statement of defence as an application for relief under the section, Thatu Naick v. Kondu Reddi 1 Ind. Cas. 221 : 32 M. 242 at p. 252 : 5 M.L.T. 248.

5. Since the section does not prescribe the procedure to be followed, regard must be had to the provisions of Older XXI, which deals with "execution of decrees and ciders" and Rules 58 to 63 of that Order which are grouped under the sub-heading "Investigation of claims and objections," regulate applications made on the ground that any property attached in execution is not liable to such attachment. Section 60 of the Code declares what things are liable to and what exempt from attachment and a party to a suit may raise a claim or objection in the executing Court under that section, and in the absence of any specific provisions those headed "Investigation of claims and objections" will apply.

6. It has been decided by the Calcutta High Court in Punchanun Bundopadhya v. Rabia. Bibi 17 C. 711 (F.B.) upon the words of Section 278 of the Code of Civil Procedure of 1882 "and in all other respects, as if he was a party to the suit," that that and the following sections, which correspond to Rules 58 to 63, do not apply to parties to suits.

7. No doubt if the claimant be a party these words do not apply, but they do not expressly exclude him from the operation of the rule or limit the very general words with which the rule begins "where any claim is preferred to, or any objection is made"; moreover these words occur in a sentence defining the powers of the Court, which has already been given jurisdiction over any claim or objection by the preceding words "the Court shall proceed to investigate." We are of opinion that the concluding words of the first paragraph of Rule 58(1) may be taken as applying only to the case where the claimant or objector