Execution sale, invalid attachment, and Rule 90 objections: strict territorial routing matters, but sale may survive without attachment.

Section 136 CPC requires attachment of property outside the issuing court's jurisdiction to be routed through the District Court, so a direct precept to a subordinate court did not confer authority and the attachment was invalid. Section 51(b) CPC nevertheless permits execution by sale without attachment, so the execution sale was not void merely because attachment was absent or defective, absent proof of substantial injury. The proviso to Order XXI Rule 90 CPC barred objection only where deposit or security had not been complied with and not dispensed with; once the court dispensed with that requirement, the objection had to be heard on merits, subject to the proviso on grounds available before the sale proclamation.

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Issues: (i) whether attachment of property situated in another district, made by a subordinate court on a precept sent direct to it instead of through the District Court, was valid; (ii) whether a sale in execution could be upheld where the attachment was invalid or absent; and (iii) whether the objection under Order XXI, Rule 90 of the Code of Civil Procedure was barred for non-compliance with the proviso requiring deposit or security within the limitation period.

Issue (i): whether attachment of property situated in another district, made by a subordinate court on a precept sent direct to it instead of through the District Court, was valid.

Analysis: Section 136 of the Code of Civil Procedure requires that when property outside the local jurisdiction of the issuing court is to be attached, the order must be sent to the District Court within whose jurisdiction the property lies, and only that court may cause the attachment to be made by its own officers or by a subordinate court. The provision was treated as conferring jurisdiction as well as prescribing procedure. Since the order was sent direct to the subordinate court and no authority flowed from the District Court, the attachment could not be sustained.

Conclusion: The attachment was invalid and ineffective in law.

Issue (ii): whether a sale in execution could be upheld where the attachment was invalid or absent.

Analysis: Section 51(b) of the Code of Civil Procedure expressly authorises execution by attachment and sale or by sale without attachment. Order XXI, Rule 64 regulates the usual procedure but does not curtail that statutory power. Absence of attachment was therefore not treated as a nullity in the sale itself, but as at most an irregularity that would not vitiate the sale unless substantial injury was shown.

Conclusion: The sale was not void merely because the attachment was invalid or absent.

Issue (iii): whether the objection under Order XXI, Rule 90 of the Code of Civil Procedure was barred for non-compliance with the proviso requiring deposit or security within the limitation period.

Analysis: The proviso to Order XXI, Rule 90 barred entertainment of an objection unless the objector complied with the deposit or security requirement or obtained dispensation. The word "entertain" was construed as meaning consideration on merits, not mere filing. Because the Court itself had dispensed with the requirement before hearing the objection on merits, the objection could not be rejected solely for want of prior deposit or security within the limitation period. The objection under the proviso was also required to be examined on the ground that no objection could be entertained on a matter that could have been taken before the sale proclamation.

Conclusion: The objection was not barred merely for want of timely deposit or security, and it had to be considered on its merits, subject to the proviso regarding grounds available before the sale proclamation.

Final Conclusion: The challenge to the execution sale succeeded only to the extent that the objection under Order XXI, Rule 90 had to be heard afresh, while the separate contention that the sale was void for want of valid attachment failed.

Ratio Decidendi: Where a statute makes a particular mode of transmission or action the channel through which jurisdiction is acquired for execution steps outside territorial limits, strict compliance is necessary; but a sale authorised by Section 51(b) is not void merely because attachment was absent, and an objection under Order XXI, Rule 90 cannot be rejected for non-compliance with the proviso once the court has dispensed with that requirement and the matter is still to be decided on merits.

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