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TMI Blog1963 (2) TMI 72X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ce of the said application. On August 28, 1947, the Court issued a conditional order of attachment before judgment in respect of the said bills. On September 9, 1947, the second respondent applied for vacating the order of attachment. On September 11, 1947, the second respondent offered to give security if time was granted to him. On October 17, 1947, 5 surety bonds were executed by the appellant and 4 others for different amounts and presented to the Court. The Court accepted the bonds and withdrew the order of attachment. The appellant's surety bond to the Court was for a sum of ₹ 12,000/-. Under that bond she agreed, if the second respondent made a default in producing and pacing at the disposal of the Court when required the properties specified in the Schedule attached thereto or the value of the same or such portion of the same as may be sufficient to satisfy the decree, to the Court a sum not exceeding ₹ 12,000/-. On October 13, 1948, a preliminary decree was made in the said suit. On August 1, 1951, the second respondent was adjudged as an insolvent by the High Court at Calcutta. On September 20, 1951, a final decree was passed in the said suit against the s ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... strictly construed and if so construed it would be obvious on the express terms of the bond that the necessary conditions for its enforceability were not fulfilled. We shall notice the arguments of the learned Additional Solicitor-General on behalf of the first respondent at proper places in the course of our judgment. The first question turns upon the relevant provisions of the Act and they read : Section 5. (1) At any time within one year after the date on which this Act. comes into force in any local area, a displaced debtor may make an application for the adjustment of his debts to the Tribunal within the limits of whose jurisdiction he actually and voluntarily resides, or carries on business or personally works for gain. Section 15. Where a displaced debtor has made an application to the Tribunal under section 5 or under sub- section (2) of section 11, the following consequences shall ensue, namely :- (a) all proceedings pending at the date of the said application in any civil court in respect of any debt to which the displaced debtor is subject (except proceedings by way of appeal or review or revision against decrees or orders passed against the displaced debtor ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... the final order of a Tribunal to the High Court. The section conferring the said power does not provide for a statutory stay of the order of the Tribunal till the disposal of the appeal. Indeed, Order XLI, r. 5, of the Code of Civil Procedure, which embodies the general principle of law says that an appeal shall not operate as a stay of proceedings under a decree or order appealed from except so far the appellate Court may order. This principles which applies to stay of proceedings under an order will apply with greater force to a suspension of an order. The judicial Committee, in Juscurn Boid v. Kirthichand Lal (1918) L. R. 46 I. A. 52, 56) summarized the Indian Law of procedure thus: ......... under the Indian Law and procedure an original decree is not suspended by presentation of an appeal nor is its operation interrupted where the decree on appeal is one of dismissal. Here, the application filed by the second respondent before the Tribunal, Dehra Dun, was rejected and the said order holds the field till it is reversed by the appellate Court. As the order of the Tribunal was not suspended, the effect was that there was no application pending in a Tribunal as defined i ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... under which it was executed, it would be manifest that the appellant had accepted the liability to satisfy the decree debt if the second respondent failed to do so, upto a sum of ₹ 12,000/-. He would say that, as the surety bond was executed for raising the attachment, the amount for which it was given was clearly intended by the party to be paid towards the decree amount in case the judgment-debtor made a default to place at the disposal of the Court the said bills or their value and that in the said circumstances a reasonable interpretation of the terms of the bond without doing violence to the language would disclose the said intention. It is true that the plea now raised was not specifically taken in' the objections filed by the appellant and it was not specifically advanced before the learned District judge also. It was rejected by Kotval J. on the ground that it was not' raised in the pleadings, and by the Division Bench on merits. But the question raised is one of construction of 'a surety bond and all the facts on which the respondent seeks to rely upon should only be found in the order sheet. If a demand was made or if the judgment debtor or the surety w ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... r what circumstances extrinsic-evidence could be relied upon in construing the terms of a document. Section 94 of the Evidence Act lays down a rule of interpretation of the language of a document when it is plain and applies accurately to existing facts. It says that evidence may be given to show that it was not meant to apply to such facts. When a court is asked to interpret a document it looks at its language. If the language is clear and unambiguous and applies accurately to existing facts, it shall accept the ordinary meaning, for the duty of the Court is not to delve deep into the intricacies of the human mind to ascertain one's undisclosed intention-, but only to take the meaning of the words used by him, that is to say his expressed intentions. Sometimes when it is said that a Court should look into all the circumstances to find an author's intention, it is only for the purpose of finding out whether the words apply accurately to existing facts. But if the words are clear in the context of the surrounding circumstances, the Court cannot rely on them to attribute to the author an intention contrary to the plain meaning of the words used in the document. The other sect ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... be paid by the judgment-debtor; but, as the judgment-debtor had become an Insolvent, neither the Court could demand of him to pay the amount, nor could he pay it. The construction of the word when required suggested by the learned counsel for the respondent, if accepted, would make those words unnecessary : it would mean that the judgment-debtor should be required to produce the property only of he could do so and need not be required to produce it if he could not do so; in such a case those words could as well be excluded from the sentence, for they would not serve any purpose. If the words were retained there to accept the argument of the learned counsel, they should be qualified by adding if the bills could be produced and when the money could lawfully be paid by the judgment debtor . But those words are not there and we cannot add them, for without adding them, full meaning could be given to the words used in the clause. But whatever ambiguity there may be--in our view there is none--the words in default of his doing so make it absolutely clear that the surety binds herself only if the judgment-debtor makes a default when he is required to produce the document. The intent ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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