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Vishwabandhu v. Sri Krishna & Anr.

Civil Appeal · 2021 INSC 570Decided 29 Sept 2021
Civil Appeal Nos. 6094-6095 of 2021, arising out of SLP (Civil) Diary No. 1855 of 2020
Justice Uday Umesh Lalit · Justice S. Ravindra Bhat

Background

A woman sued in 1993 to recover Rs. 22,400 that the respondent had failed to repay toward a property deal. When he did not respond to a registered-post summons (which came back marked "refused"), the trial court proceeded ex-parte and passed a decree against him in 1997. The decree-holder then had his property attached and auctioned in 2000, where the appellant was the highest bidder. Only after the auction did the respondent show up and apply to set aside the ex-parte decree, claiming he never knew about the case; the trial court rejected this as a false and time-barred claim, but the Allahabad High Court later sided with him and restored the original suit, prompting the auction-purchaser's appeal to the Supreme Court.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court held that a summons returned marked "refused" is deemed validly served in law under Order V Rule 9(5) CPC, so the original ex-parte decree was properly passed. It further noted that even after the decree, a process server's report showed the respondent was personally served notice of the execution proceedings in April 2000 and had signed to acknowledge it: yet he let the auction go ahead in December 2000 without objection, only complaining afterward. Given this clear, demonstrated knowledge and his delay in acting, and since a sale certificate had already been issued to the auction-purchaser, the Court held he was not entitled to have the decree set aside at that late stage. It set aside both High Court orders and dismissed his application, upholding the auction sale in the appellant's favour.

Lesson Learnt

A summons that comes back marked "refused" counts as validly served in the eyes of the law: you cannot later claim ignorance of a case if you deliberately avoided accepting the notice. Equally, a person who has clear proof of knowing about court execution and auction proceedings but waits until after a public auction is completed to object will generally not be allowed to unwind a completed sale to a bona fide purchaser.

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

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