Foreign exchange permission and decree execution: filing a foreign judgment copy is not itself enforcement, but levy requires approval.

A decree-holder resident outside India must obtain prior permission before levying execution of a money decree, because the foreign exchange prohibition continues to apply to sums payable under a judgment and execution steps remain restricted unless permitted. However, merely filing a certified copy of a foreign judgment under Section 44A of the Code of Civil Procedure with a request for transmission to the executing court is not, by itself, a step for enforcing the judgment. On that construction, execution requires permission, but transmission of the decree for execution is not unlawful where no actual enforcement has yet been taken.

---

---

Issues: Whether a decree-holder resident outside India must obtain prior permission under the Foreign Exchange Regulation Act before levying execution of a money decree, and whether filing a certified copy of the foreign judgment for transmission to the executing court amounts to taking steps for enforcing the judgment.

Analysis: Section 5 prohibits payment to or for the credit of a person resident outside India without the required permission. Section 21(3) permits legal proceedings for recovery of money without prior permission, but sub-clauses (a) and (b) qualify that permission by providing that the statutory prohibition continues to apply to sums required to be paid under a judgment and that no steps may be taken to enforce such a judgment except to the extent permitted. On that construction, execution of a money decree by a person resident outside India cannot be levied without the necessary permission. At the same time, mere filing of the certified copy of a foreign judgment under Section 44A of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908, with a request for transmission to the executing court, is not itself a step for enforcing the judgment.

Conclusion: Prior permission is necessary before execution is levied, but the impugned order transmitting the foreign decree for execution was not illegal because the steps taken so far did not amount to enforcement of the judgment.

---