The order of attachment before judgment does not impact a prior mortgagee's rights to sell the property.

1. Application No. 3827 of 2006 is filed to declare the sale effected on 31-7-2006 by the respondents in respect of the property No. 1 mentioned in the schedule hereunder and sale effected on 3-5-2006 and settlement on 16-6-2006 in respect of property No. 2 mentioned in the schedule hereunder as null and void for the sole reason that when the above encumbrance took place the order of Attachment before Judgment granted by this Hon'ble Court on 4-10-2005 was still in force.
Application No. 3828 of 2006 is filed to direct the fourth respondent to deposit the above sale amounts from the auction to the credit of the suit and keep the same pending disposal of the above suit.
Application No. 1556 of 2006 is filed to raise the order of Attachment in O.A. No. 1498 of 2005 in C.S. No. 226 of 2005 before Judgment passed by the Hon'ble Court dated 4-10-2005.

2. The brief facts are as under :
For the sake of convenience the parties are referred to as they are referred to in the suit.

3. The plaintiff as a private limited Company deals in foreign exchange. The plaintiff provides foreign exchange in its regular course of business by way of day - to - day dealings with the first defendant company. The plaintiff provided adequate foreign exchange assistance by way of Foreign Currencies, Traveler's Cheque, etc. The defendants became defaulter in payment on account of the foreign exchange aggregating to a sum of Rs. 41,35,850/-. When demanded, the third defendant having acknowledged the debt sought time as their business was going through a bad patch. Still no payment was made even after granting time. Finally, the defendant issued twenty cheques, but they were all returned dishonoured and criminal proceedings have been initiated by the plaintiff, which are pending before the XIV M. M. Court, Egmore, Chennai - 600 008. Hence, the plaintiff company filed the above suit, directing the defendant to pay a sum of Rs. 52,93,888/- together with interest at 24% per annum.

4. The plaintiff company filed an Application in Appln. No. 1498 of 2005 for Attachment Before Judgment and the same was allowed by this Court on 4-10-2005.

5. M/s. Indian Overseas Bank, Nungambakkam Branch, filed an Application in Appln. No. 682 of 2006, to implead them in the suit and the same was also allowed by this Court on 16-2-2006.

6. Thereafter, the bank as fourth defendant filed an Application in Appln. No. 1566 of 2006, to raise the order of Attachment dated 4-10-2005 made in Application No. 1498 of 2005.

7. While so, the plaintiff company filed Application Nos. 3827 and 3828 of 2006. A common affidavit has been filed in the above two applications stating that the fourth defendant bank conducted an auction of the properties already attached by this Court on 24-2-2006 and sold the property No. 1 in the schedule on 31-7-2006 to one Mr. V. P. Balaraman for a meagre sum of Rs. 7,30,000/- which is well below the market price of Rs. 15,00,000/-. Similarly, property No. 2 in the schedule was sold by the fourth defendant bank on 3-5-2006 to one Mr. J. S. Prem Kumar, who in turn settled the property to one Mrs. T. N. M. Tharani Bai on 16-6-2006. Hence, the plaintiff filed the above applications to declare that the two sales effected by the fourth defendant bank as null and void and to direct the fourth defendant bank to deposit the sale amount to the credit of the suit.

8. A counter affidavit and an additional counter - affidavit has been filed by the fourth defendant bank in the above said two applications.

9. In the counter - affidavit, fourth defendant bank has stated that they lent money to the defendants 1 to 3 and the properties were mortgaged with the bank on 15-12-2003. As default was committed, the bank had invoked the provisions