AYYASAMY GOUNDER Vs. KESAVAMOORTHY AND OTHERS

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The appellant is the judgment -debtor. His appeal is against an order passed by the learned Subordinate Judge of Coimbatore dismissing his application under S.3 of the Tamil Nadu Indebted Agriculturists (Temporary Relief) Ordinance, 1975 which was later enacted as the Tamil Nadu Act X of 1975. The appellant filed the application in the following circumstances. There was a mortgage decree against him in enforcement of which the mortgaged property was brought to sale. Three persons, Kesavamoorthy, Mayangammal and Subbalakshmi purchased the property in Court auction. For setting aside this sale, the appellant filed a petition under O.21, R.90, C.P.C. Pending that application the appellant moved the executing Court for stay, under S.3 of the Tamil Nadu Indebted Agriculturists (Temporary Relief) Ordinance, 1975. S.3 of this Act runs as follows:

(2.) Learned counsel for the appellant submits before me that the application filed by him for setting aside the sale under O. 21, R.90, C.P.C., must be regarded as an application for execution of a decree for payment of money. I must reject this argument as unsound. S.4 of the Tamil Nadu Indebted Agriculturists (Temporary Relief) Ordinance, 1975, provides that all further proceedings in suits and applications of the nature mentioned in S.3 in which relief is claimed against an agriculturist shall stand stayed until the expiry of a year from the date of the commencement of the Act. But, neither S.3 nor S.4 can apply to the present case where there is no application, as such, for execution of a decree for payment of money. The application for execution of the decree for payment of money has already been ordered in this case, and it was only on the execution application being ordered that the property had been brought to sale. An application to set aside the sale under O.21, R.90, C.P.C., cannot be regarded as an application for the execution of a decree for payment of money within the meaning of Ss. 3 and 4 of the Tamil Nadu Indebted Agriculturists (Temporary Relief) Ordinance, 1975. The fact that an application for setting aside the sale if pending can be no ground for stay of proceedings under S.4 of the said Act. In my view, the appellant's application invoking the provisions of S.3 of the Tamil Nadu Indebted Agriculturists (Temporary Relief) Ordinance, 1975, was rightly dismissed by the learned Subordinate Judge. There are no merits in this appeal. The appeal is dismissed. There will be no order as to costs.