Thava Pandian And Ors. vs Veerappa Chettiar And Ors. on 8 December, 1969
Goli Padaraju v. Mattapalli Raju and Venkatasubba Rao v. Kesavayya (1955) An.W.R. 492, are cases of variation of the preliminary decree by the appellate Court and viewed the question in the same way as Sital Prasad v. Kishorilal . In our opinion, the principle applicable to variation of a preliminary decree in the context cannot be extended to cases where the terms of the preliminary decree as to priority of sales had not been carried into the final decree and execution has taken place in accordance with the final decree as it stands. The doctrine of dependence does not enable the Court to read the preliminary decree and the final decree together and proceed on the basis that the final decree reflected the terms of the preliminary decree unless on a construction of the two decrees that view would be justified. Apart from construction we do not think that normally omission in the final decree of the terms in the preliminary decree can be taken note of by the executing Court and try to set it right. The executing Court should take the final decree as it stands and cannot go behind it. Whether particular items of property should be sold first or last, as indicated in the preliminary decree, is part of the decree and it is not a question relating to execution, discharge, or satisfaction of the decree. If the final decree is in variance with the preliminary decree, the right course for the party is to apply for amendment of the final decree and not to ask the executing Court to sit in judgment over the final decree.