Legal representatives of a deceased plaintiff who are substituted as plaintiffs during the pendency of the suit and in whose favor a decree is passed are entitled to execute the decree without obtaining a succession certificate.

A.L.BAHRI, J.

1. In view of the importance of the questions involved in this case, the civil revision was admitted to D. B.

2. Banwari Lal filed a suit for recovery of Rs. 11,000.00 against Man Singh. During the pendency of the suit he died on 1-3-1977. His legal representatives were brought on the record as plaintiffs on 30-6-1977. Ultimately the suit was decreed on 31-1-1978. The decree has become final as no appeal was filed against the same. On 27-2-1978, the decree-holders Inder Sain and another filed execution. It was dismissed on the ground that they had not obtained succession certificate on the death of Banwari Lal with respect to debts for which the suit was filed. After obtaining the necessary certificate Inder Sain and another again filed execution application on 22-1-1984. The judgment-debtor, Man Singh, raised objections which were disposed of by the impugned order by the executing Court on 31-8-198. The objections were allowed and the execution application was dismissed on the ground inter alia holding that the succession certificate was procured after expiry of limitation of three years, from the date of death of Banwari Lal.

3. Learned counsel for the petitioner has argued that when the petitioners were impleaded as legal representatives in the suit itself, the provisions of S. 214(1)(b) of the Indian Succession Act or Para 3 of the Punjab and Haryana High Court Rules, Volume II, Chapter 6(B) would not be applicable. It was not at all necessary for the petitioners to obtain succession certificate to enable them to file application for execution of the decree in which they were already decree-holders. There is merit in this contention. There is no requirement of obtaining succession certificate, as provided in Order 22 of the Code of Civil Procedure, to enable the legal representatives of the deceased-party to the suit to be substituted as such. If the clause of action had survived on the death of the plaintiff on his legal representatives, they had a legal right to be substituted as plaintiffs in such a suit. In the present case, their application for becoming as plaintiffs on account of the death of Banwari Lal, plaintiff, was accepted and they were substituted as plaintiffs. Ultimately decree was passed in their favour and as decree-holders they were fully entitled to file application for execution of the decree. S. 214 of the Indian Succession Act on which reliance was placed by the executing Court is not at all applicable to the facts of the case in hand. It reads as under :-

S. 214 "Proof of representative title a condition to recovery through the Courts of debts from debtors of deceased persons :-

(i) No Court shall- (a) pass a decree against a debtor of a deceased person for payment of his debt to a person claiming on succession to be entitled to the effects of the deceased person or to any party thereof, or (b) proceed, upon an application of a person claiming to be so entitled, to execute against such a debtor a decree or order for the payment of his debt, except on the production, by the person so claiming of- (1) a probate or letters of administration evidencing the grant to him of administration to the estate of the deceased, or

(ii) a certificate granted under S. 31 or S. 32 of the Administrator Generals Act 1913, and having the debt mentioned therein, or

(iii) a succession certificate granted under Part X and having the debt specified therein, or

(iv) a certificate granted under the Succession Certificate Act, 1889, or

(v) a certificate granted under Bombay Regulation No. VIII of 1827, and, if granted after the first day of May, 1889, having the debt specified therein.

(2) The word debt in sub-sec. (1) includes any debt except rent, revenue or profits payable in respect of the land used for agricultural purposes. The aforesaid provision refers to making claim for getting a decree passed on the basis of a debt which was due to a person who had already died. Obviously before obtaining succe