A D NARAYANA SAH Vs. BALAGURUSWAMY NADAR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This is an application by the Receivers for an order that they may be permitted to remove from the Vyasarpady Buildings, copper stills, vats, copper pipes and other old furniture and documents and papers belonging to the Nadars estate and now lying in the Vyasarpady Distillery Buildings which were sold in auction on the 21 of December 1922 in execution of the decree in he suit.

(2.) The plaintiff in this suit, A.D. Narayana Sah obtained a simple money-decree against the defendants to whose estate the petititioners, Messrs. Fraser and Ross, have been appointed Receivers. The decree was for over Rs. 2,69,000 and in execution the property known as the Distillery Buildings at Vyasarpady was attached and sold. What was sold was only the Distillery Buildings and the proclamation describes the property to be sold as follows: "Distillery Buildings, Door No. 3, Brighton Road Barracks, Peramboor, Madras, bearing Re-Survey Number, etc." These buildings were originally used as a distillery by the Nadars but sometime before the sale the business ceased to be carried on there. One of the stills had been removed by the Nadars themselves and the property which the Receivers want to remove consist of pipes, stills and a number of vats.

(3.) The application of the Receivers is opposed on the ground that what they want to remove are fixtures which in law go with the property and which have passed to the auction- purchaser. The contention for the Receivers is that, what was sold was only the building and nothing more and that, apart from any question of law about fixtures, they are entitled to remove whatever was put in there for the purpose of the business by the Nadars. It is also contended that the Law of Fixtures does not apply to India and that, even if it did, the articles sought to be removed are not fixtures which in law could pass to the purchaser.