Court-sanctioned amalgamation transfer is not an assignment, so Order 21 Rule 16 notice is not required.

A transfer of decrees or assets under a court-sanctioned amalgamation scheme is not a transfer by assignment when the transfer takes effect directly by force of the court's order. On that basis, the notice requirement in Order 21, Rule 16 CPC was not attracted, because the proviso applies only to transfers by assignment. The fact that the transferor company had ceased to exist did not displace the rule or remove the notice requirement for its intended protections. The Calcutta HC therefore treated the amalgamation-based transfer as distinct from an assignment and held that notice under Order 21, Rule 16 was not required.

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Issues: Whether the transfer of decrees pursuant to a scheme of amalgamation sanctioned under section 153A of the Indian Companies Act was a transfer by assignment attracting notice under Order 21, Rule 16 of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908.

Analysis: The scheme of amalgamation was not itself the operative transfer. Section 153A empowered the Court to sanction a compromise or arrangement and, by its further order, direct transfer of the undertaking or property to the transferee company, with the transfer taking effect by virtue of the court's order. That mode of transfer was not an assignment by the transferor company, which had merely proposed the scheme and made no conveyance in substance or form. Since the proviso to Order 21, Rule 16 applies only where the decree is transferred by assignment, the notice requirement was not attracted. The argument that the transferor had ceased to exist and therefore notice need not be served was rejected as inconsistent with the rule, which protects both transferor and judgment-debtor.

Conclusion: The transfer was not by assignment, and the appellants were not entitled to notice under Order 21, Rule 16.

Ratio Decidendi: A transfer of assets or decrees that takes effect directly by force of a court order sanctioning an amalgamation scheme is not a transfer by assignment, and therefore does not attract the notice requirement under Order 21, Rule 16.

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