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Rajbir vs Suraj Bhan and Anr.

Civil Appeal · 2022 INSC 247Decided 28 Feb 2022
Civil Appeal No. 1700 of 2022

Background

The appellant had agreed to sell land, but the buyers had to sue for specific performance to get the sale actually completed; they won a decree directing execution and registration of a sale deed for a portion of the land (24 Kanals 2 Marlas, part of a larger holding). During execution proceedings, the buyers submitted a draft sale deed and the court appointed a court commissioner to execute it, without first serving the draft on the appellant (judgment-debtor) or inviting his objections, as required by law. The seller argued that the executed sale deed did not match the decree's terms.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court held that Order XXI Rule 34 of the Civil Procedure Code creates a mandatory procedure: before a court executes a document on behalf of an unwilling judgment-debtor, it must first serve the draft on that person and consider any objections before finalising it. Because the execution court skipped straight to appointing a commissioner and getting the sale deed signed without this step, the process contravened the law regardless of the underlying merits of the dispute. The Court set aside the impugned order, directed that the draft sale deed now be served on the appellant, that his objections be heard, and that if the already-executed sale deed is found inconsistent with the decree it must be set aside and redone correctly, all within four months.

Lesson Learnt

Even after winning a decree, a party executing it through the court must still follow the mandatory procedural safeguards for the other side (like being served a draft document and given a chance to object), skipping these steps can require the process to be redone from scratch, however long the case has already taken.

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

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