Certificate execution permits recovery of interest on arrears, and disputes over satisfaction must be raised in the statutory forum.

Interest on arrears was treated as recoverable in execution of the certificate because Section 16 of the Bengal Public Demands Recovery Act, 1913 allows interest to be realised as part of the certificate proceeding and treats execution as a continuation of the original demand. The absence of a fresh certificate did not prevent recovery of that interest. Questions relating to execution, discharge or satisfaction of the certificate had to be raised in the statutory proceeding itself, consistent with Section 37 of the Act and the analogous procedure under Rule 9 of Schedule II of the Income-tax Act, 1961. A civil suit challenging the demand was therefore not maintainable.

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Issues: Whether a civil suit challenging the demand for interest on arrears recovered in certificate proceedings under the Public Demands Recovery Act was maintainable and whether such interest was recoverable in the certificate proceeding.

Analysis: The claim for interest was held to arise under Section 16 of the Bengal Public Demands Recovery Act, 1913, which makes interest upon the public demand recoverable in the execution of the certificate and treats the execution proceeding as a continuation of the original certificate proceeding. The absence of a fresh certificate did not defeat recoverability of the interest. As regards the forum, the Court applied the principle that questions relating to execution, discharge or satisfaction of a certificate are to be determined first in the certificate proceeding and not by suit, following the statutory scheme reflected in Section 37 of the Bengal Public Demands Recovery Act, 1913 and the analogous procedure under Rule 9 of Schedule II of the Income-tax Act, 1961.

Conclusion: The suit was not maintainable in civil court and the demand for interest was recoverable in the certificate proceeding; the objection to jurisdiction failed.

Final Conclusion: The challenge to the recovery of interest did not succeed, and the decree of the lower appellate court sustaining the demand was affirmed.

Ratio Decidendi: Where a statute expressly provides that interest on the underlying demand is recoverable in execution of the certificate, the liability is not avoided by payment of the principal alone, and disputes as to execution, discharge or satisfaction must be pursued in the statutory forum rather than by civil suit.

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