MANIKKA GOUNDEN Vs. LOGANATHA MUDALIAR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The point to be decided in this appeal is. Is the order of the lower Court directing sale a valid order?

(2.) The question arises in execution. The decree in the suit was for money passed by the High Court of Madras on its original side. It was transferred for execution to the Subordinate Judge's Court at Vellore. Certain 17 items of property were attached by the Court which caused two of them to be sold. The decree was partly satisfied but further execution in that Court became impossible, it having; lost territorial jurisdiction, over the other items attached. They were with the exception of one item removed by a. Government notification, from the limits of the Vellore Sub-Court to the local; jurisdiction of the Sub-Court of Chittoor. The decree-holder thereupon applied to the former Court for retransmission of the decree to the High Court of Madras. That request was complied with and the High Court in its turn sent the decree for execution to the Chittoor Sub-Court. The properties being already under attachment, the decree-holder applied to that Court for their sale. It granted his request and the question as I have said. " Is the order of is the Chittoor Court directing the sale valid "?

(3.) Mr. Ramaswami Aiyangar who appears for the appellant has argued the case very fully. He first contends that when the Vellore Court lost jurisdiction over the items in question, the attachment ipso facto came to an end If there was no subsisting attachment, there could, of course, be no sale. But how can the fact that the Court loses jurisdiction lead to the result that the attachment itself falls to the ground? Does a decree in a suit become void when the Court which passed it ceases subsequently to have jurisdiction over the subject-matter of the suit? The Civil Procedure Code contains detailed provisions as to when an attachment validly effected ceases to be in force. There seems to be no warrant for adding to that list, by holding that when the Court loses jurisdiction, the attachment subsisting until then suddenly comes to an end.