Case: M/S. Brakewel Automotive Components (India) Pvt. Ltd Vs. P.R. Selvam Alagappan

and the resistance to the execution of the decree is neither on behalf of M/s. Kargaappa Auto Products/M/s. Karpaga Auto Products nor its proprietress, his wife contending that the decree is neither binding on the firm nor on her. For all practical purposes, the said firm is still being represented by the respondent in the subsisting proceedings. The sequence of events disclose that the suit had been instituted in the year 2010 and was decreed on 16.10.2011. The persistent default on the part of the respondent has been adverted to hereinabove. Though a defective appeal had been filed on his behalf in the year 2012, it was withdrawn and was not re-filed by removing the defects. The Execution Petition though lodged in the year 2014 has not seen the fruit of the decree as on date. The Review Petition filed by the respondent has also been dismissed. Significantly, in all the proceedings initiated by the respondent to stall the execution of the decree, the same pleas have been reiterated.19. It is no longer res integra that an Executing Court can neither travel behind the decree nor sit in appeal over the same or pass any order jeopardizing the rights of the parties thereunder. It is only in the limited cases where the decree is by a court lacking inherent jurisdiction or is a nullity that the same is rendered non est and is thus inexecutable. An erroneous decree cannot be equaled with one which is a nullity. There are no intervening developments as well as to render the decree inexecutable.20. As it is, Section 47 of the Code mandates determination by an executing court, questions arising between the parties or their representatives relating to the execution, discharge or satisfaction of the decree and does not contemplate any adjudication beyond the same. A decree of court of law being sacrosanct in nature, the execution thereof ought not to be thwarted on mere asking and on untenable and purported grounds having no bearing on the validity or the executability thereof.21. Judicial precedents to the effect that the purview of scrutiny under Section 47 of the Code qua a decree is limited to objections to its executability on the ground of jurisdictional infirmity or voidness are plethoric . This Court, amongst others in Vasudev Dhanjibhai Modi v. Rajabhai Abdul Rehman and others 1971 (1) SCR 66 in essence enunciated that only a decree which is a nullity can be the subject matter of objection under Section 47 of the Code and not one which is erroneous either in law or on facts. The following extract from this decision seems apt:"A Court executing a decree cannot go behind the decree between the parties or their representatives; it must take the decree according to its tenor, and cannot entertain any objection that the decree was incorrect in law or on facts. Until it is set aside by an appropriate proceeding in appeal or revision, a decree even if it be erroneous is still binding between the parties.When a decree which is a nullity, for instance, where it is passed without bringing the legal representatives on the record of a person who was dead at the date of the decree, or against a ruling prince without a certificate, is sought to be executed an objection in that behalf may be raised in a proceeding for execution. Again, when the decree is made by a Court which has no inherent jurisdiction to make it, objection as to its validity may be raised in an execution proceeding if the objection appears on the face of the record: where the objection as to the jurisdiction of the Court to pass the decree does not appear on the face of the record and requires examination of the questions raised and decided at the trial or which could have been but have not been raised, the executing Court will have no jurisdiction to entertain an objection as to the validity of the decree even on the ground of absence of jurisdiction."22. Though this view has echoed time out of number in similar pronouncements of this Court, in Dhurandhar Prasad Singh v. Jai Prakash University and others, AIR 2001 SC 2552 , while dwelling on the scope of Section 47 of the Code, it was ruled that the powers of the court thereunder are quite different and much narrower than those in appeal/revision or review. It was reiterated that the exercise of power under Section 47 of the Code is microscopic and lies in a very narrow inspection hole and an executing court can allow objection to the executabilty of the decree if it is found that the same is void ab initio and is a nullity, apart from the ground that it is not capable of execution under the law, either because the same was passed in ignorance of such provision of law or the law was promulgated making a decree inexecutable after its passing. None of the above eventualities as recognised in law for rendering a decree inexecutable, exists in the case in hand. For obvious reasons, we do not wish to burden this adjudication by multiplying the decisions favouring the same view.23. Having regard to the contextual facts and the objections raised by the respondent, we are of the unhesitant opinion that no case has been made out to entertain the remonstrances against the decree or the application under Section 47 CPC. Both the Executing Court and the High Court, in our comprehension, have not only erred in construing the scope and ambit of scrutiny under Section 47 CPC, but have also overlooked the fact that the decree does not suffer either from any jurisdictional error or is otherwise invalid in law. The objections to the execution petition as well as to the application under Section 47 CPC filed by the respondent do not either disclose any substantial defence to the decree or testify the same to be suffering from any jurisdictional infirmity or invalidity. These are therefore rejected.

Decision (1 = appeal accepted, 0 = rejected): 1

Explanation:
1[ds]18. The materials on record and the arguments based thereon have received our due consideration. To recapitulate, the plaint discloses that the respondent had represented before the appellant to be authorised to act on behalf of both the firms and in that capacity had participated in the transactions that followed. In that perspective, even assuming that the name of one of the firms was wrongly mentioned and that in fact, it is the wife of the respondent, who is the proprietress thereof, with whom there is no conflict of interest, these in our comprehension per se, would not render the decree void or inexecutable. Such errors, even if exist, would not infest the decree with any jurisdictional infirmity or reduce it to a nullity. Noticeably, there is no dispute with regard to the identity of the firms involved and their representation by the respondent in the suit transactions. The allegation of fraud and collusion between the learned counsel for the respondent and the appellant is visibly self-serving, omnibus, speculative and unauthentic and cannot therefore, after so many years, ipso facto render the decree invalid on account thereof. Visibly, the respondent had been the center figure in all the transactions between the parties on behalf of the firms, as stand proved in the suit and the resistance to the execution of the decree is neither on behalf of M/s. Kargaappa Auto Products/M/s. Karpaga Auto Products nor its proprietress, his wife contending that the decree is neither binding on the firm nor on her. For all practical purposes, the said firm is still being represented by the respondent in the subsisting proceedings. The sequence of events disclose that the suit had been instituted in the year 2010 and was decreed on 16.10.2011. The persistent default on the part of the respondent has been adverted to hereinabove. Though a defective appeal had been filed on his behalf in the year 2012, it was withdrawn and was not re-filed by removing the defects. The Execution Petition though lodged in the year 2014 has not seen the fruit of the decree as on date. The Review Petition filed by the respondent has also been dismissed. Significantly, in all the proceedings initiated by the respondent to stall the execution of the decree, the same pleas have been reiterated.19. It is no longer res integra that an Executing Court can neither travel behind the decree nor sit in appeal over the same or pass any order jeopardizing the rights of the parties thereunder. It is only in the limited cases where the decree is by a court lacking inherent jurisdiction or is a nullity that the same is rendered non est and is thus inexecutable. An erroneous decree cannot be equaled with one which is a nullity. There are no intervening developments as well as to render the decree inexecutable.20. As it is, Section 47 of the Code mandates determination by an executing court, questions arising between the parties or their representatives relating to the execution, discharge or satisfaction of the decree and does not contemplate any adjudication beyond the same. A decree of court of law being sacrosanct in nature, the execution thereof ought not to be thwarted on mere asking and on untenable and purported grounds having no bearing on the validity or the executability thereof.Having regard to the contextual facts and the objections raised by the respondent, we are of the unhesitant opinion that no case has been made out to entertain the remonstrances against the decree or the application under Section 47 CPC. Both the Executing Court and the High Court, in our comprehension, have not only erred in construing the scope and ambit of scrutiny under Section 47 CPC, but have also overlooked the fact that the decree does not suffer either from any jurisdictional error or is otherwise invalid in law. The objections to the execution petition as well as to the application under Section 47 CPC filed by the respondent do not either disclose any substantial defence to the decree or testify the same to be suffering from any jurisdictional infirmity or invalidity. These are therefore rejected.