Case: Tribhuvandas Purshottamdas Thakur Vs. Ratilal Motilal Patel

over the territory now forming part of the State of Gujarat, ceased when a new High Court was set up in the State of Gujarat, but it was held by a Full Bench of the High Court of Gujarat in State of Gujarat v. Gordhandas, 3 Guj LR 269: (AIR 1962 Guj 128 ) (FB) that the decision of the Bombay High Court will be regarded as binding since the Gujarat High Court had inherited the jurisdiction, power and authority in respect of the territory of Gujarat. When pressed with the observations made in the two cases cited at the Bar, Raju, J., found an easy way out. He observed that the judgment of the Full Bench of the Gujarat High Court had "no existence in law", for in the absence of a provision in the Constitution and the Charter Act of 1861, a Judge of a High Court had no power to refer a case to a Full Bench for determination of a question of law arising before him, and a decision given on a reference "had no existence in law". The learned Judge also thought that if a Judge or a Division Bench of a Court makes a reference on a question of law to a Full Bench for decision, it would in effect be assuming the jurisdiction which is vested by the Charter of the Court in the Chief Justice of the High Court. In so observing the learned Judge completely misconceived the nature of a reference made by a Judge or a Bench of Judges to a large Bench.When it appears to a Single Judge or a Division Bench that there are conflicting decisions of the same Court, or there are decisions of other High Courts in India which are strongly persuasive and take a different view from the view which prevails in his or their High Court, or that a question of law of importance arises in the trial of a case, the Judge or the Bench passes an order that the papers be placed before the Chief Justice of the High Court with a request to form a special or Full Bench to hear and dispose of the case or the questions raised in the case. For making such a request to the Chief Justice, no authority of the Constitution or of the Charter of the High Court is needed, and by making such a request a Judge does not assume to himself the powers of the Chief Justice. A Single Judge does not by himself refer the matter to the Full Bench: he only requests the Chief Justice to constitute a Full Bench for hearing the matter. Such a Bench is constituted by the Chief Justice. The Chief Justice of a Court may as a rule, out of deference to the views expressed by his colleague, refer to the case; that does not mean, however, that the source of the authority is in the order of reference. Again it would be impossible to hold that a judgment delivered by a Full Bench of a High Court after due consideration of the points before it is liable to be regarded as irrelevant by Judges of that Court on the ground of some alleged irregularity in the constitution of the Full Bench.11. The judgment of the Full Bench of the Gujarat High Court was binding upon Raju, J. If the learned Judge was of the view that the decision of Bhagwati, J., in Pinjare Karimbhais case, 1962-3 Guj LR 529 and of Macleod, C. J., in Haridass case, 23 Bom LR 802: (AIR 1922 Bom 149 (2)) did not lay down the correct law or rule of practice, it was open to him to recommend to the Chief Justice that the question be considered by a larger Bench. Judicial decorum, propriety and discipline required that he should not ignore it. Our system of administration of justice aims at certainty in the law and that can be achieved only if Judges do not ignore decisions by Courts of co-ordinate authority or of superior authority. Gajendragadkar, C. J., observed in Bhagwan v. Ram Chand, C. A. No. 764 of 1964, D/- l-3-1965 : (AIR 1965 SC 1767 ):"It is hardly necessary to emphasise that considerations of judicial propriety and decorum require that if a learned Single Judge hearing a matter is inclined to take the view that the earlier decisions of the High Court, whether of a Division Bench or of a Single Judge, need to be reconsidered, he should not embark upon that enquiry sitting as a Single Judge, but should refer the matter to a Division Bench, or, in a proper case, place the relevant papers before the Chief Justice to enable him to constitute a larger Bench to examine the question. That is the proper and traditional way to deal with such matters and it is founded on healthy principles of judicial decorum and propriety."12. In considering whether a precedent of a Court of co-ordinate authority is binding, reference to S. 165 of the Evidence Act is irrelevant. Undoubtedly, every judgment must be based upon facts declared by the Evidence Act to be relevant and duly proved.But when a Judge in deciding a case follows a precedent, he only regards himself bound by the principle underlying the judgment and not by the facts of that case.13. It is true that every Judge of a High Court before he enters upon his office takes an oath of office that he will bear true faith and allegiance to the Constitution of India as by law established and that he will duly and faithfully and to the best of his ability, knowledge and judgment perform the duties of office without fear or favour, affection or ill will and that he will uphold the Constitution and the laws : but there is nothing in the oath of office which warrants a Judge in ignoring the rule relating to the binding nature of the precedents which is uniformly followed.

Court's decision (1 = petition accepted / positive for appellant, 0 = rejected / negative): 1

Reasoning from the judgment:
1[ds]We are unable to agree with that view. Obviously, the transactions of mortgage, exchange, gift or lease of any immovable property in Cls. (a) and (b) contemplated to be made by the trustees are voluntary transactions, and in the absence of any clear provision in the Act, the expression "sale" in Cl. (a) would only mean transfer of property by the trustees for a price. Section 36 occurs in Ch. V relating to Accounts and Audit, and is one of the provisions which imposes restrictions on the powers of the trustees. There is nothing to indicate, either in the words of the Section, or in the context in which it occurs, that the sale prohibited without sanction of the Charity Commissioner includes a Court sale in execution of a decree.For the purpose of the present case, we do not deem it necessary to express any opinion on the question whether a sale in exercise of authority derived from the trustees, e. g. a covenant for sale under an English mortgage executed by the trustees or a sale in terms of a consent decree attracts the application of S. 36 of Act. We have no doubt, however, that the Legislature did not intend to put any restriction upon the power of the Civil Court executing a decree for recovery of money due from the trust, by sale of the property of the trust.The Section imposes a fetter upon the power of the trustees: it is not intended hereby to confer upon the Charity Commissioner an overriding authority upon actions of the Civil Court in execution ofour judgment, that view also cannot be sustained.A suit to enforce a mortgage or a proceeding to enforce a mortgage decree against property belonging to a public trust is not a suit or proceeding in which a question affecting a public, religious or charitable purpose is involved.4. The District Court was, in our judgment, right in holding that the requirements of O. 21, R. 89 of theCode of Civil Procedure were not complied with and the Subordinate Judge had no power to set aside the sale held in execution of the decree.Order 21, R. 89 of the Code Of Civil Procedure which in terms applies to sale of immovable property in "execution of a decree" which expression includes execution of a decree for sale of mortgaged property, enables any person either owning, such property or holding an interest therein by virtue of a title to apply to have the sale set aside on his depositing inthe present case, the trustees of the trust had deposited Rs. 250 for payment to the auction purchaser. They also deposited Rs. 63 for payment to the decree-holder, but it is common ground that the claim of the mortgagee was not satisfied by that deposit. The first condition was therefore, fulfilled, but the second condition of O. 21, R. 84 was notin our Judgment is a futile argument.By abandoning the execution proceeding the claim of the creditor is not extinguished: he is entitled to commence fresh proceedings for sale of the property. Rule 89 of O. 21 is intended to confer a right upon the judgment-debtor, even after the property is sold, to satisfy the claim of the decree-holder and to compensate the auction purchaser by paying him 5% of the purchase-money. The provision is not intended to defeat the claim of the auction purchaser, unless the decree is simultaneously satisfied. When the Judgment creditor agrees to extend the time for payment of the amount due for a specified period and in the meanwhile agrees to receive interest accruing due on the amount of the decree, the condition requiring the Judgment debtor to deposit in Court for payment to the decree holder the amount specified in the proclamation of sale for the recovery of which the sale was ordered cannot be deemed to be compliedis unnecessary to venture an opinion whether these cases were correctly decided.It is sufficient to observe that an order setting aside a court sale in execution of a mortgage decree cannot be obtained, under O. 21, R. 89 of theCode of Civil Procedure by merely depositing 5% of the purchase-money for payment to the auction purchaser and persuading the decreeholder to abandon the execution proceeding.In considering whether a precedent of a Court of co-ordinate authority is binding, reference to S. 165 of the Evidence Act is irrelevant. Undoubtedly, every judgment must be based upon facts declared by the Evidence Act to be relevant and duly proved.But when a Judge in deciding a case follows a precedent, he only regards himself bound by the principle underlying the judgment and not by the facts of that case.13. It is true that every Judge of a High Court before he enters upon his office takes an oath of office that he will bear true faith and allegiance to the Constitution of India as by law established and that he will duly and faithfully and to the best of his ability, knowledge and judgment perform the duties of office without fear or favour, affection or ill will and that he will uphold the Constitution and the laws : but there is nothing in the oath of office which warrants a Judge in ignoring the rule relating to the binding nature of the precedents which is uniformly followed.