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TMI Blog1952 (5) TMI 18X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ceiver could be appointed for collecting the Fund. On appeal, Trevor Harries C.J. and Sinha J. upheld his view. From the facts stated in the petition filed by the Union of India before the High Court, it appears that a sum of ₹ 1,394-13-1 represents arrears of pay and allowances .due to the judgment-debtor and a sum Of ₹ 1,563, is the compulsory deposit in his Provident Fund account. Different considerations will apply to the two sums, though in the lower court the parties seem to have proceeded on the footing that the entire sum was a compulsory deposit within the meaning of the provident Funds Act, 1925. The main question to be decided. is whether a receiver can be appointed in execution in respect of provident Fund money due to the judgment-debtor. Compulsory deposit and other sums in or derived from any fund to which the Provident Funds Act XIX of 1925 applies are exempt from attachment and sale under section 60 (k), Civil Procedure Code. Compulsory deposit is thus defined in section 2 (a) of the Provident Funds Act XIX of 1925:- Compulsory deposit means a subscription to, or deposit in a Provident Fund which under the rules of the Fund, is not, u ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... lect the pension was in question. Lindley, L.J., observed: In considering whether a receiver of a retired officer's pension ought to be appointed, not only the language but the object of section 141 of the Army Act. 1881 must be looked to; and the object of the section would, in my opinion, be defeated, and not advanced, if a receiver were appointed. Lord Justice Lopes reiterated the same thing in these words : It is beyond dispute that the object of the legislature was to secure for officers who had served their country, a provision which would keep them from want and would enable them to retain a respectable social position. i do not see how this object could be effected unless those pensions were made absolutely inalienable. preventing not only the person himself assigning his interest in the pension. but also preventing the pension being seized or attached under a garnishee order, or by an execution or other process of law. Unless protection is given to this extent the object which the legislature had in view is frustrated, and a strange anomaly would exist. A person with a pension would not be able to utilise his pension to pay a debt beforehand, but immediately ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... aks of a right to future maintenance . The High Court held that the words employed in sub-clause (n) contemplated R bare right of maintenance and nothing more a right enforceable by law and payable in the future and that inasmuch as in the case before them the properties had been assigned to the judgment-debtor in lieu of his maintenance, it was not such a right, which alone was exempt from attachment and sate. They thought that it was a fit case for the appointment of a receiver and remitted the execution petition to the subordinate judge for the appointment of a receiver after determining the allowance payable to the judgment debtor for his maintenance. With this conclusion of the High Court the Judicial Committee concurred. But they also expressed the view that they did not agree with the High Court on the subject of the actual legal position of the right of maintenance conferred upon the judgment-debtor. Taking the prayer of the judgment creditor to be that the right of maintenance be proceeded against, their Lordships observed that the right was in point of law not attachable and not saleable. If it was an assignment of properties for maintenance, the amount of which was n ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ment for the first time in the High Court for an order appointing a receiver of the plaintiff's maintenance, Beaumont C.J. and another learned Judge held that even this could not be done. The Chief Justice said ,'If these exempted payments can be reached in execution by the appointment of a receiver by way of equitable execution, the protection afforded by the section is to a great extent lost. They steered clear of Rajindra Narain Singh's case by stating that there was in the judgment of the Board no clear expression of opinion and there was doubt whether the allowance then in question was maintenance or not. The Madras High Court in The Secretary of State for India in Council v. Sarvepalli Venkata Lakshmamma((1926) 49 Mad; 567.) has dealt with a question similar to the one in The Secretary of State for India in Council v. Bai Somi and Another((1933) 57 Bom. 507.) but it merely referred to the ruling in Rajindra Narain Singh's case without dealing with the facts or the reasoning. It throws no light. The case in Janakinath v. Pramatha Nath ((1940) 44 C.W.N. 266.) was a decision by a single Judge and stands on the same footing as the Madras case. There is nothing el ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ere is no such exemption as regards arrears of salary. The learned Attorney-General conceded that this portion of the amount can be proceeded against in execution. The Provident Fund amount was not paid to the subscriber after the date of his retirement in January 1947. This, however, does not make it any the less a compulsory deposit within the meaning of the Act. Whatever doubt may have existed under the earlier Act of 1897 the decisions cited for the respondent, Miller v. B.B. C.I. Railway((1903) 5 Bom. L.R. 454.) and Raj Kumar Mukharjee v. W.G. Godfrey(A,I.R. 1922 Cal. 196) are under that Act, the meaning has now been made clear by the definition in section 2 of the present Act; any deposit remaining to the credit of the subscriber or depositor after the happening of any such contingency is also a compulsory deposit; and the contingency may be retirement from service. In the result, the appeal is allowed and the order of the lower court dated 1st February, 1949, appointing a receiver is set aside as regards the Provident Fund amount of ₹ 1,563 lying to the credit of the judgment-debtor. Under the condition granting special leave, the Government will pay the 1st res ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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