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Sir Sobha Singh and Sons Pvt. Ltd. v. Shashi Mohan Kapur (Deceased) Thr. L.R.

Civil Appeal · 2019 INSC 756Decided 15 Jul 2019
Civil Appeal No. 5534 of 2019
Justice Abhay Manohar Sapre · Justice Dinesh Maheshwari

Background

The appellant-landlord had let out a flat in Sujan Singh Park, New Delhi, and after terminating the tenancy, filed an eviction suit in 2009 which was disposed of by a compromise decree requiring the tenant to vacate by 31.05.2016 and pay monthly user charges in the interim. When the tenant failed to vacate, the landlord filed execution proceedings, but the Delhi High Court held the execution petition itself was not maintainable and asked the landlord to first obtain a formal decree from the trial court.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court held that the High Court was wrong to find the execution petition not maintainable, since the compromise order of 01.06.2012 itself amounted to a decree capable of execution even though a formal decree sheet had not been separately drawn up. The Court also held the High Court erred in directing the landlord to apply under Section 152 of the Civil Procedure Code (which deals with correcting clerical errors): the correct provision was Section 151 read with Order 20 Rule 6(A). The appeal was allowed, the execution petition was held maintainable (with two modifications to the executing court's order), the landlord was given two weeks to apply for formal drawing up of the decree, and a compensatory cost of Rs. 50,000 was imposed on the tenant-respondent for prolonging the matter.

Lesson Learnt

A compromise decree recorded by a court is executable even before a separate formal decree sheet is drawn up: tenants and other judgment-debtors cannot use the absence of paperwork formalities to indefinitely delay execution of a settlement they already agreed to in court.

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

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