TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
1976 (3) TMI 257
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....ue. The decree was to carry future interest at the rate of 4 1/4% per annum upto the date of realisation. The said decree was transmitted to the Collector for execution under Section 19 of the said Act, During the pendency of the execution proceedings U. P. Zamin-dari Abolition and Land Reforms Act came into force. All the landed properties of the Zamindar respondent were acquired and he was awarded compensation and rehabilitation grant bonds. Drig Vijai Bahadur Singh died and was succeeded by his son Ran Vijai Bahadur Singh, who was substituted for his father in the execution proceedings. The compensation bonds payable to Ran Vijai Bahadur Singh were sent by the Compensation Officer on 28-12-56 to the Collector under Section 23-A of the Act. There were certain secured debts also against the Zamindar respondent and they were first ordered to be paid off under Section 23-B (1) of the Act realisable from the compensation bonds on their face value. The Collector then proceeded to liquidate the unsecured debts under Section 23-B of the Act from the balance of compensation bonds. There arose some dispute as to the calculation of the interest at the decretal rate. The Collector furthe....
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....ieved then filed a Special Appeal from, the aforesaid decision of the learned Single Judge. On hearing the learned counsel for the parties, the Division Bench felt that the matter was not free from difficulty and referred the following two questions to a Full Bench :-- "1. Whether benefit of Section 9 of the U. P. Zamindars' Debt Reduction Act, 1952 should be available to a judgment-debtor in the proceedings under Chapter V of the U. P. Encumbered Estates Act? 2. Will it make any difference if the bonds are suo motu sent by the Compensation Officer to the Collector instead of being requisitioned by the Collector?'' 2. No question was referred by the Division Bench as regards the award of interest. This is how the matter has come before the Full Bench. 3. When the case was heard by the Full Bench, a controversy arose as to whether the English translation of U. P. Zamindars' Debt Reduction Act will prevail over the Hindi text of the Act. An argument was made on behalf of the creditor-appellants that under Section 9 of the Zamindars' Debt Reduction Act only when decree is executed by attachment and sale, the decretal amount is to be reduced.....
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....ity answered the above question in the following manner :-- "We are, therefore, of opinion that where there is some doubt or ambiguity in any provision in the authoritative English text, it is permissible to look into the Hindi text to remove the doubt or ambiguity." 5. With the above answer of the larger Full Bench the parties addressed before us their arguments. For the sake of convenience, we, hereinafter, describe the U. P. Encumbered Estates Act, 1934, as 'the 1934 Act' and the U. P. Zamindars' Debt Reduction Act, 1952 as 'the 1952 Act'. 6. On behalf of the creditor-appellants their learned counsel submitted that the debts secured against the proprietary rights in Zamindari properties are to be liquidated under Section 23-B (1) of the 1934 Act to which specifically the benefit of Section 8 of the 1952 Act has been extended but the benefit of Section 9 of 1952 Act, which in its terms applies to unsecured debts has not been expressly extended to liquidation of debt under Sub-section (2) of Section 23-B of 1934 Act dealing with liquidation of unsecured debts, hence the Collector will have no power to reduce the amount decreed in respect of an un....
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....ts scheme makes a clear distinction between the liquidation of debt and execution of decrees. Reference was made to Sections 22, 23-A and 23-B of 1934 Act as dealing with the liquidation of debts and Section 24 of 1952 Act as dealing with the execution wherein the Collector for realising the value of the debtor's property may exercise all the powers of the Civil Court for the execution of a decree. The English text of Section 9 of 1952 Act was then referred to. It was pointed out that its provision will apply only (i) when the decree relates to an unsecured debt passed in a suit to which the said Act applied, (ii) the decree is executable by a court, and (iii) the execution is by attachment and sale of the bonds granted to the judgment-debtor. It was contended that while the first ingredient is fulfilled in the instant case, the second and third ingredients of 1952 Act were not fulfilled inasmuch as under Section 23-B the Collector only liquidates a debt as Administrator of the Estate of the debtor and does not execute the decree as a court by attachment and sale of any property. It was urged that there is a clear distinction between the liquidation of a debt through r....
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....he hands of the Collector after utilising the same in accordance with the provisions of Sub-section (1), such balance would be utilised by the Collector in discharging the debts other than the secured debts. The submission was that in the instant case with the Collector there had remained a balance of compensation and rehabilitation grant bonds and since the Collector had utilised the same to discharge the unsecured debt of the appellant-creditors, he was perfectly within jurisdiction to give benefit of the 1952 Act to the respondent Zamin-dar. 11. It was contended that 1952 Act was enacted with the object of making a provision for scaling down of debts of the Zamindars whose estates had been acquired under the U. P. Zamindari Abolition and Land Reforms Act, 1950, and the said Act embraces within its ambit both secured and unsecured debts. It makes provision by its Section 9 that where a decree relating to an unsecured debt was executed by attachment and sale of the bonds granted to the judgment-debtor on account of compensation or rehabilitation grant for his estate, the court executing the decree notwithstanding anything in any law enter satisfaction in accordance with the for....
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....l Judge sends the decrees granted under Sub- section (7) of Section 14 to the Collector for execution in accordance with the provisions of Chapter V, It is clear, therefore, that under the Act the Collector executes the decree passed by the Special Judge and the execution is carried out in accordance with the provisions of Chapter V. Though this Chapter is headed as 'Execution of decrees and liquidation of debts' and Sections 23 and 23-B of the said Chapter talk of liquidation of debts but that alone to my mind would not mean that the Collector does not execute the decree of the Special Judge. Under the Scheme of this Chapter it appears the process of execution in the circumstances envisaged in Sections 23 and 23-B is described as liquidation. I am not impressed with the contention that in the scheme of Chapter V when the Collector proceeds for realisation of value of the debtor's property under Section 24 of the Act it is only then he executes the decree. To my mind whole of Chapter V deals with the execution of decrees. Execution of transmitted decree is nothing but the process for carrying into effect the decree passed by the Special Judge for discharging the debt....
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....s not execute the decree but administers the estate just as an Official Receiver under the Provincial Insolvency Act or a Liquidator of a Company under the Companies Act. The Supreme Court in the case cited above was not concerned with the nature of the function of the Collector under Chapter V of the Act. The ratio of the decision in S. C. Swarup v. Raghupati Rikh 1970 All LJ 1S9 does not appear to me to lead to the conclusion that the Collector under Chapter V of the Act does not execute a decree. The Division Bench was concerned with the function of Official Receiver under the Provincial Insolvency Act, when realising the Zarnindari Compensation bonds and in selling them while administering the estate of the insolvent and in that connection the Bench concerned observed that the Official Receiver does not take any proceedings for execution of the decree by attachment and sale of compensation or rehabilitation grant for the estate and then concluded that since the Official Receiver was not executing a decree by attachment and sale of the bonds, Section 9 of the U. P. Zamindars Debt Reduction Act was not attracted. The Division Bench had no occasion in that case to consider the nat....
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....s Act which is pending into court of a Collector or has been decided by a court. Thus the Legislature itself has described the Collector as a court I have no difficulty, therefore, in holding that the Collector is a court when performing his duties and functions under Chapter V of the 1934 Act. 16. Thus the contention advanced on behalf of the petitioner-creditors that the Collector neither executes any decree nor is he a court when exercising his power conferred by Section 23-B of the 1934 Act fails. 17. The next limb of the argument that under Section 23-B (2) of the 1934 Act the Collector neither attaches nor puts to sale the compensation or rehabilitation grant bonds in liquidating the debts may now be considered. 18. If, of course, the strict procedure for attachment of the property, as laid down in the Civil Procedure Code, and then its sale in execution of a decree is the only criterion to judge the nature of the action contemplated in Chapter V of the 1934 Act, then the answer may be that no such attachment and sale takes place but that to my mind will not be a correct approach. When a court reserves a property for the purpose of realising its value in discharge of....
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....When the bonds representing the money value of the compensation and rehabilitation grant payable to the landlord themselves are in the custody of a public officer, then actual seizure thereof and their deposit in court will complete the attachment as contemplated by Rules 51 and 52 of Order XXI of the Civil Procedure Code. This is exactly what takes place. Section 23-A of the 1934 Act lays down that the Collector shall require the Compensation Officer and Rehabilitation Grant Officer to place at his disposal in pursuance of Section 70 of the U. P. Za-mindari Abolition and Land Reforms Act the amount of compensation money and rehabilitation grant payable to the landlord in respect of his proprietary right in the land found liable to attachment or sale under the provisions of Sub-section (2) of Section 19. Rule 31 under the 1934 Act provides that after the amount of compensation money and rehabilitation grant payable to the landlord is placed at the disposal of the Collector then he shall expend the amount so recovered in liquidation of the debt of the debtor-landlord in accordance with the provisions of Section 23-B of the Act and the balance, if any, shall be refunded to him. I ....
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....on above is : (i) that the Collector is a court when exercising jurisdiction under Section 23-B of the 1934 Act; (ii) that in liquidating the debt under Section 23-B of the 1934 Act the Collector executes the decree passed by the Special Judge under Sub-section (7) of Section 14 and transmitted under Section 19 of the said Act; (iii) that the Collector attaches the compensation money or the rehabilitation grant payable in the shape of bonds and executes the decree in discharging the debt by delivering the money or its value in the shape of bond to the creditor; and (iv) that no sale takes place of any property in execution of the decree when the decree is executed against the compensation and rehabilitation grant bonds under Section 23-B of the 1934 Act. 22. As a result of the discussion above, I have no difficulty in answering the second question referred by the Division Bench. My attention has not been drawn to any provision in the 1934 Act or any rule framed thereunder prescribing any particular form in which the Collector will require the Compensation Officer or the Rehabilitation Grant Officer, as the case may be, to place at his disposal....
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....d relief to the indebted Zamindars and afforded them a wholesome benefit in liquidating and discharging their debts secured or unsecured, which otherwise would not have been available to them under the ordinary law. It is a matter of legislative history when the 1934 Act was passed, there was no question of the abolition of the proprietary rights of the landlord in land. It was in 1951 that the U. P. Z. A. and L. R. Act was enforced abolishing all proprietary rights of the Zamindars and awarding them compensation and rehabilitation grant in return for the acquisition of their estates by the State. Considering the plight in which a large number of Zemindars were put by abolition of Zamindari, other enactments were passed for affording them relief, one of which was the 1952 Act, known as U. P. Zamindars Debt Reduction Act. The long title of this Act shows that it was enacted to provide for scaling down of debts of Zaminders whose estates had been acquired under the provisions of the U. P. Z. A. & L. R. Act, 1950. The statement of objects and reasons was as follows :-- "The Zamindari Abolition Committee made certain recommendations as regards the scaling down of intermedia....
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....o them on the acquisition of their estates I think it would be legitimate, taking into view the avowed object of the Legislature, to construe and apply these laws in a manner complementing and supplementing each other in order to achieve the object for which they were enacted. 27. The authorised English translation of Section 9 of the 1952 Act is as follows :-- Section 9. "Where a decree to which this Act applies relating to other than as secured debt is executed by attachment and sale of the bonds granted to the judgment-debtor on account of compensation or rehabilitation grant for his estate, the court executing the decree shall, notwithstanding anything in any law enter satisfaction in accordance with the formula given in Schedule II." (Underlining mine) 28. However, the Hindi version which is the original language in which the Act was enacted by the Legislature is as follows :-- ''9- सुरक्षित रूण को छेाड़कर अन्य रूण से सम्बद्ध को....
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....as still unsettled. In the instant case itself on behalf of the appellant-creditors it was submitted that the English version must prevail and be regarded as supreme as held by the Full Bench of this Court in the case of Smt. Ram Rati v. Gram Samaj : AIR 1974 All 106 (FB) (supra). The Supreme Court in the case of J. K. Jute Mills v. State of U. P. : AIR 1961 SC 1534 specifically approved the principle of interpretation laid down by this Court in the case of Haji Lal Mohammad Bidi Works v Sales Tax Officer : AIR 1959 All 208 (supra) that if there was an apparent ambiguity in the translation of the Act enacted in Hindi then that can be resolved by making use of the Hindi text. We doubted the correctness of the Full Bench case of Earn Rati v. Gram Samaj : AIR 1974 All 106 (supra). The matter was then referred to a Full Bench of seven Judges, which has now declared that where there is some doubt or ambiguity in any provision in the authoritative English text, it is permissible to look into the Hindi text to remove the doubt of ambiguity. Since in the Hindi version the phrase used is 'Kurki Ya Neelam', the ambiguity in the English authoritative text due to use of the conjunct....
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.... the mortgaged estate. Sub-section (1) of Section 23-.B of 1934 Act is framed so as not to affect the provisions of Section 8 of the 1952 Act. The scheme is clear. When the Legislature enacted Sub-section (1) of Section 23-B of the 1934 Act. it introduced the phrase 'without prejudice to the provisions of Section 8 of the U. P. Za-mindars Debt Reduction Act, 1952'. Thus intention was to caution the Collector that he will keep in mind the provision that compensation bond and rehabilitation bonds at his disposal representing the money value of compensation and rehabilitation grant payable to an intermediary for a mortgaged estate must be utilised to discharge the liability of the debt charged over such estate. If any balance is left then it may be utilised towards payment of unsecured debt. In case the secured debt is not fully discharged against those bonds and any part of it remains out-standing, then the Collector for liquidating it will not utilise the compensation and rehabilitation bonds representing the value of another estate belonging to the debtor Za-mindar which was not mortgaged or charged with any liability but will take recourse to the procedure prescribed by....