Deputy Registrar of Chits, appointed under Section 61 of the Chit Funds Act, 1982, is competent to pass Awards and issue Recovery Certificates, which are deemed decrees of a civil court and executable as such.

ORDER:

Heard Sri Ajay Kumar Madisetty, learned counsel for the petitioners, Sri A.Praneeth, learned counsel representing Sri P.Lakshma Reddy, learned counsel appearing for the respondent No.1 and perused the record.

2. This Civil Revision Petition is preferred by the petitioners, aggrieved by the order dated 21.04.2023 (hereinafter referred to as “the impugned order”) passed by the learned Principal Senior Civil Judge, Mancherial in E.P. No. 88 of 2019 in Arb.No.241 of 2016. By the impugned order, the learned Executing Court issued a salary attachment order to the Head Master, Zilla Parishad Secondary School, Naspur directing him to withhold and remit one third of net salary of petitioner No.3 towards satisfaction of Award amount of Rs.2,37,032/- (Rupees Two Lakhs Thirty-Seven Thousand and Thirty-Two only) payable to respondent No.1.

I. BRIEF FACTS:

3. The factual backdrop to the present revision is as follows:

a) The respondent No.1 Ameya Chit Funds Private Limited, a registered chit fund company, filed an arbitration case vide ARB No. 240 of 2016 before the Deputy Registrar of Chits, Adilabad under Section 64 of the Chit Funds Act, 1982, seeking recovery of Rs.4,81,557/- together with interest and costs from the petitioners. The said dispute arose on account of alleged default committed by petitioner No.1 in payment of the 8th instalment and whereas the other petitioners stood as guarantors. The Deputy Registrar of Chits, Adilabad, after conducting enquiry and treating the petitioners as ex-parte, passed an Award dated 31.12.2016 directing the petitioners to pay Rs.4,81,557/- together with interest of @ 18% per annum on the principal amount of Rs.4,12,500/- from the date of filing of the dispute to till the date of realization, along with costs quantified at Rs.10,167/-.

b) In accordance with the said Award, the respondent No.1 initiated execution proceedings by filing E.P.No.88 of 2019 before the learned Principal Senior Civil Judge at Mancherial, seeking execution of the Award by way of attachment of the salary petitioner No.3. In the said execution proceedings, the impugned order date 21.04.2023 came to be passed, directing the Head Master, ZPSS, Naspur, to withhold an amount of Rs.2,37,032/- from the salary of the petitioner No.3 by deducting one-third of the net monthly salary. Aggrieved thereby, the present Civil Revision Petition came to be filed.

II. SUBMISSIONS OF THE PARTIES:

a) Submissions on behalf of the petitioners:

4. Learned counsel for the petitioners contended that under Sections 70 and 71 of the Chit Funds Act, 1982, the Award as well as the Recovery Certificate are required to be issued only by the Registrar of Chits. However, in the present case, both the Award dated 31.12.2016 and the Recovery Certificate were issued by the Deputy Registrar of Chits, Adilabad, who allegedly lacked jurisdiction and competence under the statute. It is therefore contended that the entire execution proceedings founded upon such Award and Recovery Certificate are vitiated are liable to be set aside.

5. It is further submitted that the Recovery Certificate being in the nature of a decree, ought to have been transferred to the competent executing Court in accordance with procedure prescribed under Civil Rules of Practice. According t