Holding

An executing court has no jurisdiction to go beyond the terms of the decree; it must execute the decree as made unless a specific question under Section 47 CPC is raised.

Summary

Respondent No. I, a science teacher, sued Vedic Girls Senior Secondary School for regularisation of her services, salary by crossed cheques and related benefits. The trial court decreed regularisation and payment of salary but did not specify the salary scale on which arrears were to be calculated. In execution proceedings the court, relying on the District Education authorities, calculated arrears on the basis of the Government pay‑scale Rs 1400‑2600 and directed payment of the amount. The school appealed, contending that the executing court had exceeded its jurisdiction because the decree was silent on the salary basis and any addition required a reference to Section 47 of the Code of Civil Procedure. The Supreme Court held that an executing court must enforce the decree as passed and cannot widen its scope or fix a quantum not specified, unless a specific question is raised under s.47 CPC. Consequently, the appeal was allowed and the execution order set aside, with a direction that the decree‑holder may seek amendment of the decree in the trial court. No costs were awarded.

Issues considered

Whether the executing court can determine and award salary arrears on a scale not specified in the decree.
Whether the executing court can widen the scope of a decree without a specific question under Section 47 of the CPC.

Legislation cited

Code of Civil Procedure, 1908s. 47

Subjects

execution of decreejurisdictionSection 47 CPCsalary arrearsregularisation of servicesdecree amendmentcivil procedure

Judgment

A VEDIC GIRLS SENIOR SECONDARY SCHOOL
ARYA SAMAJ MANDIR, JHAJJAR
( -
v.
SMT. RAJWANTI AND ORS.

MARCH 8, 2007
B
[DR. AR. LAKSHMANAN AND AL TAMAS KABIR, JJ.]
f

Code of Civil Procedure, 1908:

C s.47-Executing Court-Jurisdiction of-Scope-Held: The Executing
Court is required to execute the decree as made-Has no jurisdiction to
widen its scope or to add to it unless a specific question is raised relating
to discharge or satisfaction of the decree as envisaged in terms of s.47.

Respondent No.I filed suit for regularization of her services as a teacher
D in Appellant school w.e.f the date of her appointment alongwith consequential
benefits. The suit was decreed in favour of Respondent No.I but since
Appellant allegedly did not give effect to the decree, Respondent No.I put the
decree into execution. In the execution proceedings, the District Education
authorities calculated the balance dues payable to Respondent No. I with regard
E to salary arrears as per Government scale of Rs.1400-2600/-. Based upon
such calculation, Executing Court directed payment to Respondent No.I.

In appeal to this Court, the appellant contended that the decree passed
in the suit filed by Respondent No. l did not specify her salary on the basis
whereof her dues were to be calculated and that the subsequent calculation
F made by the District Education authorities had no foundation and the Executing
Court travelled beyond its jurisdiction in relying upon the same.

Allowing the appeal, the Court

HELD: I.I. The decree does not indicate the basis on which the dues of
G the Respondent No. I was to be calculated. When there were conflicting claims
regarding the salary payable to the Respondent No.I, the said respondent
ought to have taken steps to amend the prayers in the plaint so that proper
relief could be provided to her. The same not having been done, the Executing
Court had no jurisdiction to go beyond the decree as passed, despite the fact

H 808
YED!C GIRLS SEl\IOR Sf::CONDARY SCHOOL .\RY.\ SA/\P,J ~IANDIR. JHAJJAR 1. RA.JWANTI !ALTA/1.1..\S i..:ABIR. J.j 809

thai'the Trial Judge had noticed the dispute and had even decided the same. A
[Para 24) (814-E, Fl

1.2. As will be evident from the decree, Respondent No. I was entitled
to regularization of her services, with other consequential relief and was also
entitled to receive her salary through crossed cheques. The Executing Court
was required to execute the decree as made and it had no jurisdiction to widen B
its scope or to add to it unless a specific question was raised relating to
discharge or satisfaction of the decree as envisaged in Section 47 of the Code
of Civil Procedure. (Para 25( (814-G, HJ

1.3. The Executing Court appears to have been misled by the application
filed on behalf of the decree-holder Respondent No. I indicating that her suit C
had been decreed by the Court with a direction upon the School authorities to
make payment to her by cheque of her dues as per Government Scffee. The
words "as per Government scale" do not find place in the decree as passed by
the Trial Court and this has resulted in the anomaly faced in these
proceedings. [Paras 26 and 271 [815-B, q D
State of Punjab v. Krishan Dayal Sharma, AIR (1990) SC 2177 and State
;.: of Punjab v. Bula Singh. (1995) Supp. 3 SCC page 684, referred to.

2. Respondent No.I may approach the Trial Court for amendment of the
decree in accordance with law. (Para 28( [815-D) E
CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION : Civil Appeal No. 1220 of2007.

From the Judgment and Order dated 2.4.2004 of the High Court of
Punjab & Haryana at Chandigarh in Civil Revision No. 6130 of2002.
F
Sanjay Sharawat for the Appellant.

Brijender Chahar, Somvir Singh Deswal, Shree Pal Singh, Harinder Mohan
Singh. Abhinav Jain, Jyoti Chahar, Renu Chaudhary, Vinay Garg Aribam
Guneshwar Sharma, Anil Hooda, Kaushal Yadav and T.V. George for the
Responden.t. G
The Judgment of the Court was delivered by
-•
ALT AMAS KABIR, J. I. Leave granted.

2. The Respondent No. I in this appeal was appointed as Science H

\
810 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [2007] 3 S.C.R.

A Mistress in the Appellant School on 07.09.1988. At the time of joining her I ~

duties she was given an appointment letter on 05.7.1988 indicating that she
was being appointed as Science ·Mistress in the school with effect from the
date she joined her duties in the grade of Rs. 1400-2600/- plus usual allowances
sanctioned by the Haryana Government from time to time.

B 3. On 28.01.1994 the Respondent No. I filed a Civil Suit No. 49 of 1994
in the Court of Civil Judge (S.D.) Jhajjar, Inter alia, for the following reliefs:-

"It is therefore prayed that this Hon'ble Court may be pleased to pass f
a decree of declaration to the effect that the plaintiff is entitled to the
regularization of her services w.e.f. 06.7.1988 with right of contribution
c to the contributory Provident Fund from the same date as also to
receive her future salaries by crossed cheques and that she is entitled
to all kinds of leaves and as admissible under the Rules ever since her
appointment on 06. 7.1988 along with decree of permanent injunction
restraining the defendants from deducting any money from her monthly
D emoluments on any ground except through due process of law. Any
other relief that the Hon'ble Court deems fit and proper may also
kindly be granted."

4. The suit was duly contested by the appellant School by filing written
statement and on the pleadings of the parties the following issues were
E framed:-
I. Whether the plaintiff is entitled to regularization of her service
with effect from 06.7.1988 with right of contribution to the
contributory Provident Fund? OPP.

F 2. Whether the plaintiff is entitled to receive salary by crossed
cheque? OPP.

3. Whether the plaintiff is entitled to all kind of leaves admissible
under service rules? OPP.

4. Whether the plaintiff has no locus standi to file the present suit?
G OPD.

5.

6.
Whether the suit is n<;>t maintainable in the present form? OPD.

Whether the plaintiff is estopped from filing the suit by her own
..
-
act and conduct? OPD.
H
(
VEDIC GIRLS SENIOR SECONDARY SCHOOL ARYA SAMAJ M.... NDIR. JHAJJAR ' R.41\\'ANTI IALTAMAS KABIR. J.I 811

7. Whether the plaintiff has concealed material facts from the court, A
if so what effect? OPD.

8. Whether the defendants are entitled to special costs under
Section 36-A CPC? OPD.

9. Relief.
B
5. The suit was ultimately decreed in favour of Respondent No. 1 and
the following decree was passed by the Learned Trial Court:

"It is ordered that suit of plaintiff for declaration with consequential
relief of permanent injunction is hereby decreed with cost by declaring
that plaintiff is entitled to the regularization of her service w .e.f. 06. 7. I 988 C
with a right of contributory Provident Fund Scheme and also is entitled
to receive the salary through crossed cheques and further defendants
are hereby restrain from deducting any amount from her monthly
emoluments on any ground except through due process of law."
D
6. Since according to the Respondent No. I the appellant was not
giving effect to the decree, she put the decree into execution by way of
E~ecution Petition No. 18of1999 for recovery ofa sum of Rs. 2,71,436/-. In
the execution petition the Respondent No. I stated as under:-

"That the suit of the plaintiff has been decreed by the Hon'ble E
Court on 15.10.1998 and Hon'ble Court directed the defendants to
make payment of decree holder by cheque and without deducting any
amount as per Government Scale. The plaintiff has submitted the
entire balance of amount due towards defendants on annexure "A"
which is to be read as a part of the execution petition. The amount F
be recovered from the movable and immovable property of
Respondents which is attached with the petition. Further action under
order 21 Rule 32 of CPC be also initiated against Respondents No 1
to 4 for not regularizing the service and not giving benefit of
contributory Provident Fund Scheme to petitioner as per decree. The
copy of judgment and decree are attached with the petition." G
7. As will be evident from the claim made by the Respondent No. I, the
amount calculated by her towards her balance dues on account of salary was
on the basis of the Government Scale which was Rs. 1400-2600/-, as revised
from time to time.
H
812 SUPREME COURT REPORTS (2007] 3 S.C.R.

A 8. It appears that in the execution proceedings the officials of the I ~
Education Department calculated the salary of the Respondent No. I from
December, 1993 to February, 2002 in the grade of Rs. 1400-2600/- plus usual
allowances as sanctioned by the Government, to come to a finding that Rs.
6,00,5841- was due and payable to her. Ultimately, by its order dated 28.10.2002
B the Executing Court, after giving credit to the appellant for having paid a sum
of Rs. I, 70,806/-, directed the appellant to pay the remaining amount of arrears
of salary amounting to Rs. 4,29, 778/- to the Respondent No. I. Inasmuch as,
the said order was not given effect to, a further order was passed by the f
Executing Court on 28.11.2002 issuing non-bailable warrants of arrest against
the school authorities.
c
9. Aggrieved by the order passed by the Executing Court the appellant
filed Civil Revision No. 6130/2002 in the High Court of Punjab and Haryana
and the Learned Single Judge vide order dated I I .08.2003, while admitting the
revision, stayed further proceedings before the Executing Court.

D 10. While the revision was pending in the High Court, the Respondent
No. I herein filed an application to vacate the interim order dated 11.08.2003
staying the execution proceedings. The stay application was taken up for
hearing along with the revision application on 02.04.2004 for final disposal.
On consideration of the submissions made, the Learned Single Judge dismissed
E the revision petition with costs of Rs. 5,000/- and directed the Executing Court
to execute the decree forthwith and to complete the execution proceedings
within a period of three months from the date of receipt of a certified copy
of the order.

11. The present appeal is directed against the said order of the Learned
F Single Judge dated 02.4.2004.
<
12. On behalfofthe appellant it was submitted that when the Respondent
No. I was appointed as Science Mistress in the School, an agreement was
entered into between the School and the said Respondent on 07.9.1988
G stipulating the terms and conditions of her appointment. One of the terms was
that her pay scale would be Rs. 480-760/-. It was urged that the Respondent
No. I knowingly signed the said agreement which was made EX. PW4/A in
the suit.

13. It was further submitted that the decree as passed in the suit filed
H by the Respondent No. I did not specify the salary of the Respondent No.
VEDIC GIRLS SENIOR SECONDARY SCHOOL ARYA SA~1AJ MANDIR. JH.~JJAR ,. RAJ\\'i\NTJ JAL TAMAS KABIR. J.1813.

I and, in fact, no specific issue was also framed to decide the quantum of the A
\
~
salary of the Respondent No. I. Both the appointment letter issued to the
Respondent No. I on 05.7.1988 and the agreement dated 07.9.1988 had been
brought to the notice of the Learned Trial Court, but despite the above, the
Learned Trial Court had not specified the salary of the Respondent No. 1 on
the basis whereof her dues were to be calculated.
B
14. It was also submitted that as per the agreement, whatever was due
to the Respondent No. I had been duly paid and over and above the same
a further amount of approximately Rs. 1,00,000/- had been realised by her by
attaching the bank account of the school. There was, therefore, no further
dues payable to the Respondent No. 1 and the subsequent calculation made
by the District Education authorities had no foundation and the Executing
c
Court erred in relying on the same.

15. It was submitted that the Executing Court had travelled beyond its
jurisdiction in directing payment on the basis of the calculation made by the.
District Education authorities on the basis that the petitioner's salary was in D
the scale of Rs. 1400-2600/-.

16. In support of his aforesaid contention, Mr. Sanjay Sharawat, Ld.
Advocate, referred to and relied on the decision of this Court in the case of
State of Punjab v. Krishan Dayal Sharma, reported in A.LR. (1990) SC 2177,
wherein this Court had held that when no interest had been claimed in the E
suit itself, the grant of such interest by the Executing Court was illegal since
the Executing Court is bound by the terms of the decree and it could not add
to or alter the decree on its notion of fairness or justice.

17. The same view was taken by this Court in the case of State of
Punjab v. Buta Singh, reported in [1995) Supp. 3 SCC page 684, wherein in F
)
a suit for a mere declaration the Executing Court directed recovery of an
amount which had not been granted by the decree. This Court held that such
a direction given by the Executing Court was beyond its jurisdiction.

18. Various other decisions were also cited in support of the aforesaid
proposition which merely reiterate the same principle.
G

19. On behalf of the Respondent No. I, it was contended that although
her pay scale had not been specifically mentioned in the prayer portion of the
plaint, since her appointment letter had been exhibited in the suit, all parties
proceeded on the basis that her pay scale was Rs. 1400-2600/- and the decree H
814 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [2007] 3 S.C. R.

A was passed accordingly.
20. It was also submitted that even though in the decree, the pay scale
I .
of the Respondent had not been indicated, all the calculations made by the
Authorities was on the basis that the pay scale of the Respondent was 1400-
2600/- and not Rs. 480-760/- as had been contended by the School authorities.
B
21. It was pointed out that, in fact, although no issue had been framed,
the Trial Court had considered the matter and in paragraph 16 of its judgment,
it had come to a finding that the salary of the respondent was not Rs. 480-
760/- as claimed by the School Authorities but Rs. 1-400-2600/- as per her
c appointment letter (Ex. PW6/B).

22. It was submitted that in view of such finding, it was obvious that
the decree had been passed by the Ld. Trial Judge on such basis and the
Executing Court was therefore fully justified in directing the arrear payments
to be made on such understanding.
D
23. It was submitted that no ground had been made out in the appeal
for interfering with the order passed by the High Court and of the Executing
Court.

24. Having heard the Learned Counsel of the respected parties we are
E unable to agree with the reason.ing both of the High Court as also the
Executing Court since the decree does not indicate the basis on which the
dues of the Respondent No. I was to be calculated. When there were conflicting
claims regarding the salary payable to the Respondent No. I, the said
respondent ought to have taken steps to amend the prayers in the plaint so
F that proper relief could be provided to her. The same not having been done,
the Executing Court had no jurisdiction to go beyond the decree as passed,
despite the fact that the Trial Judge had noticed the dispute and had even <
decided the same.

25. As will be evident from the decree extracted hereinabove, the
G Respondent No. I was entitled to regularization of her services with effect
from 06.7.1988, with other consequential relief and was also entitled to receive
her salary through crossed cheques. The Executing Court was required to i

execute the decree as made and it had no jurisdiction to widen its scope or
to add to it unless a specific question was raised relating to discharge or
satisfaction of the decree as envisaged in Section 47 of the Code of Civil
H
VEDIC GIRLS SENIOR SECONDARY SCHOOL ARYA SAMAJ MANDIR. JHAIJAR 1 RAJ\\'ANTI IALTAM~S KABIR. J.I 815

Procedure. A
26. In our view, the Executing Court appears to have been misled by the
application filed on behalfofthe decree-holder Respondent No. 1 on 25.01.1999
indicating that her suit had been decreed by the Court with a direction upon
the School authorities to make payment to her by cheque of her dues as per
Government Scale (emphasis added). B
27. The words "as per Government scale" do not find place in the
decree as passed by the Trial Court and this has resulted in the anomaly with
which we are faced in these proceedings. The Executing court was required
to act within the bounds of the decree and not travel beyond it or to widen C
its scope without invocation of the provisions of Section 47 of the Code of
Civil Procedure.

28. Having regard to the above, we have no option but to allow the
appeal filed by the School authorities. The appeal is accordingly allowed, but
we also i:nake it clear that the Respondent No. I may approach the Trial Court D.
for amendment of the decree in accordance with law.

29. There will be no order as to costs.

B.B.B. Appeal allowed.