IN THE HIGH COURT OF ALLAHABAD
M. C. Desai, B. Upadhya and B. N. Nigam, JJ.
MAHARAJ KUMAR MAHMUD HASAN KHAN - Appellant
Versus
MOTI LAL BANKER - Respondents
First Ex. Decree Appeal 11 Of 1956
Decided On : 07/07/1960
Whether during the pendency of the execution proceedings it is open to the parties to enter into a compromise or an arrangement postponing execution of the decree on condition of paying enhanced interest?
Fact of the Case:
A suit was filed for recovery of a sum of Rs. 41,500/-. A compromise was arrived at in that suit on the 24th March 1953 of which the terms were that the present appellant would pay a sum of Rs. 22,500 to the plaintiff-respondent within a period of six months and that a decree for a total sum of Rs. 39,000/- be passed against both the defendants with future interest at 6 per cent per annum. The parties had further agreed that no interest was to be charged or paid if payment was made within the stipulated period of six months as mentioned above. Payment was not made, and on the 23rd May 1954 an application was made for execution of the decree by sale of some immoveable property of the appellant. The 17th July 1954 was fixed for the return of the notice under Order 21, Rule 66, C. P. C. On the 29th May 1954 another compromise was entered into by which the parties agreed that the decree should not be executed for a period of two months and that the judgment-debtor would pay a sum of Rs 24,180/-within a period of two months together with interest at 1 per cent per mensem. This higher rate of interest was to be paid from the date of the second compromise till the date of the realisation of the entire amount. Payment was not made again and another application for execution was filed which has given rise to the present appeal.
Finding of the Court:
A compromise, entered in a proceeding for execution of a decree, by which the judgment-debtor undertakes to pay interest at a rate higher than the decreed rate of interest, is not enforceable in a proceeding for execution of the decree.
Issues: Whether during the pendency of the execution proceedings it is open to the parties to enter into a compromise or an arrangement postponing execution of the decree on condition of paying enhanced interest?
Ratio Decidendi: 1. The executing court cannot go behind the decree itself. 2. Section 152 of the Code empowers the Court which passes a decree either of its own motion or on the application of any of the parties to correct clerical or arithmetical mistakes in judgments, decrees or orders arising from any accidental slip or omission. 3. The court may also review its decision. 4. Section 114 of the Code and Order 47 Rule 1 embody the powers relating to review. 5. The jurisdiction of the executing Court is limited to execution alone and such Court has only to enforce the terms of the decree.
Final Decision: A compromise, entered in a proceeding for execution of a decree, by which the judgment-debtor undertakes to pay interest at a rate higher than the decretal rate of interest, is not enforceable in a proceeding for execution of the decree.
( 1 ) I agree with my learned brother that the question should be answered in the negative. Since the question is of great importance, I shall state my reasons in my own words.
( 2 ) THE scheme of the Civil Procedure Code is that in one proceeding the court determines the liability of a party and the corresponding right of the other party and incorporates them in the decree and in another proceeding it executes the decree,. e. , at the instance of one party specifically enforces the liability against the other. There can be no execution or specific enforcement of a liability without a previous determination of the liability by a court and incorporated in a formal document called a decree. The Code does not contemplate the determination of a liability and its specific enforcement in one proceeding. This is one of the main differences between a criminal proceeding and a civil proceeding that in the former the execution follows at once in the same proceeding whereas in the latter it is through a separate proceeding. In the article "the Distinguishing Mark of Crime" Seton Pollock writes in (1959) 22 modern Law Review, 495, at page 496:
"it appears to be true without exception that crimes are wrongs in respect of which the execution of the courts judgment thereon is undertaken (subject to any exercise of the Crowns power to remit) without the Crown being moved thereto or deflected therefrom by any other party. This, it would seem, is never true of a civil wrong for, here, the judgment of the court is terminal in the sense that nothing happens unless the complaining party initiates some ancillary process to move the court to execution, for example, by judgment summons or writ of fieri facias".
There can, therefore, be no execution unless there exists a formal determination of the liability to be specifically enforced. An agreement or compromise, which is an act of the parties, is not a formal determination by the court of liability of one party to the other. A compromise may give rise to a formal determination, e. g. a decree, but is note itself a decree and cannot be executed. Even in a suit, in which parties are allowed to compromise, the compromise itself is not a decree but Ss to be followed by a decree incorporating the liability, agreed to by them. The determination of a liability, when there is a compromise in a suit, may appear to be a mere formal matter but is not so because the court has to determine whether the suit has been adjusted at all by the compromise and whether it is lawful or not; It is only when it is satisfied about these matters that it will hold that the liability of a party is that accepted by him in the compromise and will pass a decree embodying it. No such jurisdiction has been conferred upon, an executing court. Not only can there be nothing like a compromise in execution proceedings (unless the compromise has the effect of adjustment of the decree); but also an executing court has been given no jurisdiction to decide whether the compromise is lawful or not and to determine the liability arising from it. Not only has no power been conferred upon it to vary the terms of the decree already passed or to substitute in its, place another decree embodying the compromise but also no power has been conferred upon it to specifically enforce the compromise, even without doing so,
( 3 ) SECTION 47 is the only section that deals with the jurisdiction of an executing court. It is confined to determining all questions arising between the parties to the suit and relating to the execution, discharge or satisfaction of the decree. It enjoins that all these questions shall be determined by the executing court and not by a separate suit. All other questions can be determined by a separate suit. Any question that does not relate to the execution, discharge or satisfaction of the decree is thus not within the jurisdiction of the executing court. If there is a compromise after the passing of a decree by which its te
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