Regulatory permission for decree execution under foreign exchange law need not include prior notice or hearing to the judgment-debtor.

Permission under Section 21(3)(c) of the Foreign Exchange Regulation Act, 1947 for execution of a decree was treated as a regulatory control on payment, not a quasi-judicial adjudication of rights. The provision only enabled the authority to call for documents and information from the decree-holder and judgment-debtor while considering whether permission should be granted; it did not require a formal inquiry, prior notice, or an opportunity of hearing. Because the decree had already settled the parties' rights and liabilities, the grant of permission did not itself affect substantive rights, and the ordinary rule of audi alteram partem did not apply unless the statute expressly required it.

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Issues: Whether permission under Section 21(3)(c) of the Foreign Exchange Regulation Act, 1947 for execution of a decree required notice or hearing to the judgment-debtor, and whether the principles of natural justice applied to such permission.

Analysis: The provision authorised the Central Government or the Reserve Bank to require the decree-holder and the judgment-debtor to produce documents and furnish information for considering whether permission should be granted. It did not impose any obligation to hold an enquiry, issue notice, or afford an opportunity of hearing. The permission was a regulatory step intended to control payment in the interest of foreign exchange policy, not a determination of rights in quasi-judicial proceedings. Since the rights and liabilities were already concluded by the decree, the grant of permission did not itself adjudicate or affect substantive rights so as to attract the ordinary rule of audi alteram partem.

Conclusion: No notice or hearing to the judgment-debtor was required before granting permission under Section 21(3)(c), and the challenge to the permission failed.

Final Conclusion: The writ petition was rejected because the statutory power was only enabling and the principles of natural justice did not require prior hearing of the judgment-debtor.

Ratio Decidendi: Where a statutory permission is granted only to regulate execution of an existing decree and the provision merely enables the authority to call for information, it does not by itself require notice or hearing to the judgment-debtor unless the statute expressly provides otherwise.

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