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R. Savithri Naidu v. M/s. The Cotton Corporation of India Ltd. and Another

Civil Appeal · 2026 INSC 150Decided 12 Feb 2026
C.A. No.-001602-001602 - 2026
Justice Pankaj Mithal · Justice S.V.N. Bhatti

Background

The Cotton Corporation of India (CCI) won an arbitral award in 2001 against a company for unpaid dues on a cotton-bale sale, and years later, in 2019, sought to execute that award by attaching the company's property. The appellant, the mother of the company's Managing Director, claimed she had validly purchased that very property from the company in 2015 (as part of a settlement with the company's bank) and asked the executing court to lift the attachment, saying she was an independent buyer without notice of CCI's claim. Both the executing court and the High Court rejected her objection, so she appealed to the Supreme Court.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court held that because the appellant bought the property in 2015, after the arbitration was filed (1999) and after the award was passed (2001), she was a "transferee pendente lite" (a purchaser during pending litigation) under Order XXI Rule 102 CPC, and such purchasers cannot resist execution of a decree, including money decrees, since the doctrine of lis pendens extends to them. The Court also found that the appellant failed to prove she bought the property without notice of CCI's claim, especially since the tripartite agreement underlying her purchase was never produced as evidence. It emphasized that allowing pendente lite purchasers to defeat execution would let judgment-debtors indefinitely evade paying what they owe, undermining the entire execution process.

Lesson Learnt

Anyone buying property from someone who is a party to pending litigation or already holds an unpaid court/arbitral award against them buys at their own risk: such a purchase generally cannot block the original claimant from executing their decree against that property.

Official source (sci.gov.in)View Judgment (PDF)

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