Calcutta High Court
Nurendro Nath Roy vs Bholanath Roy on 10 July, 1882
Equivalent citations: (1883)ILR 9CAL380
JUDGMENT Wilson, J.
1. In this case the question turns wholly upon the construction of Section 58 of the Rent Act, which says that "no process of execution of any description whatsoever shall be issued on a judgment in any suit for any of the causes of action mentioned in Sections 27, 28, 29 or 30 of this Act, after the lapse of three years from the date of such judgment, unless the judgment be for a sum exceeding five hundred rupees." In the present case the judgment or decree is for a sum less than Rs. 500, and the question raised is whether the right to execute is barred.
2. Now what appears to have happened is this: that within three years from the date of the decree an application was made for the transfer of a certified copy of the decree from the Court by which the decree was made, to the Court of the Munsif of Nawabgunge. A certified copy was transmitted. After the lapse of three years from the date of the decree, an application was made for execution to the Munsif of Nawabgunge. He held that the application was made too late. The District Judge reversed that decision. We think that the Munsif was right, and the District Judge wrong. There are several decisions modifying the severity of the result of the absolutely literal construction of the terms of Section 58, as that section says that "no process of execution of any description whatsoever shall be issued." Acting upon the ordinary rule of construction that the delay on the part of the Court is not to prejudice any man's rights, that section has been construed to mean that no process of execution shall issue unless it is properly applied for within three years. We have no right to relax the meaning of that section any further. We are asked to put such a construction upon it as to make it mean that no process shall issue unless some step, with a view to making an application, has been taken within three years. We do not think we are at liberty to put any such construction. The appeal will be allowed with costs.