Sarkar, J. - (1.) This appeal arises out of a proceeding in execution of an adjudication made under the provisions of the United Provinces Encumbered Estates Act, 1934 (U. P. XXV of 1934), an Act passed by the legislature of the United Provinces, now called the Uttar Pradesh. The questions that arise in this appeal largely turn on the provisions of that Act and they have therefore to be referred to.
(2.) The Act was intended to give relief to the proprietors of certain landed properties in the United Provinces. Section 4 of rue Act enabled a proprietor of such landed properties to make an application in writing to the Collector of the District in which any of his lands is situate, stating the amount of his debts and asking for the application of the Act to him. Upon such an application being made, the Collector is to make an order under S. 6 forwarding it to a Special Judge appointed under the Act who, under S. 3 is any civil judicial officer appointed for a local area, to exercise the powers conferred and to perform the duties imposed, by the Act. Section 7 of the Act provides that upon the making of an order by the Collector under. S. 6, subject to certain exceptions which it is not necessary to enumerate, all proceedings pending in the courts in the United Provinces in respect of a debt due by the applicant shall be stayed and all execution processes issued against him by such courts shall become null and void and no fresh process in execution shall be issued against him, nor any fresh suit or other proceeding instituted. The Special Judge after he has received the application sent to him by the Collector is required by S. 8 to call upon the applicant to submit a written statement verified in the manner of a plaint, setting out full particulars of his debts, the names and addresses of his creditors and the nature and extent of his proprietary rights in land as also of all his properties which are liable to attachment under S. 60 of the Code of Civil Procedure. Under S. 9 the Special Judge has then to publish a notice calling upon persons having claims against the applicant to submit the same within a time specified. Section 10 states that the claimant shall give full particulars of his claim and of the applicant's properties. Section 11 provides that the Special Judge will publish a further notice specifying the properties mentioned by the applicant as belonging to him and any person wishing to make a claim to any such property has to do so within a certain period. The same section gives power to the Special Judge to decide the claims made to the properties and provides that the decision made by him is to be deemed to be a decree of a civil court of competent jurisdiction. Section 14 lays down that the Special Judge will inquire into the claims submitted by the creditors against the applicant and decide the questions in issue on the same principles as those on which a court of law would have decided them, but he has the power to reduce the interest due and to give relief to the applicant in respect of such claims under certain specified United Provinces Acts. Sub-section (7) of S. 14 provides that if upon enquiry the Special Judge finds that any amount is due to any claimant he shall pass a simple money decree for such amount together with costs and interest and "such decree shall be deemed to be a decree of a civil court of competent jurisdiction" but it shall not be executable within the United Provinces except under the provisions of the Act. The next section to be referred to is S. 19 which requires the Special Judge to send the decrees granted under S. 14(7) to the Collector for execution in accordance with the provisions of Chapter V of the Act and to inform him of the nature and extent of the property which he has found to be liable to satisfy the debts of the applicant. Then come the provisions as to execution contained in Chapter V. The sections in this Chapter provide that the Collector will himself and without being required to be moved for the purpose by any person, proceed to execute the decree against the properties of the applicant within the United Provinces by the various methods indicated, and for realising the value of the applicants properties the Collector shall have all the powers of a civil court for the execution of a decree. With regard to the properties of the applicant outside the United Provinces, the Act could not provide for execution. To cover such cases it was enacted by S. 24 (3) that for the purpose of execution against property outside the United Provinces the decrees passed by the Special Judge would be deemed to be decrees in favour of the Collector. These are all the provisions of the Act that need be referred to for the purposes of this case.
(3.) The facts may now be stated. The respondent was the proprietor of landed properties in the United Provinces and was entitled to claim relief under the Act. He became heavily encumbered in debts. It is not necessary to go into his financial embarrassment in great detail and it will be enough to say that in 1926 and 1927 he had created several mortgages on his properties in favour of the Allahabad Bank, the Banares Bank and a person called Kalia, for very large sums. In 1929, the Banares Bank filed a suit against the respondent in the Court of the Additional Sub-Judge, Banares, in the United Provinces for enforcement of its mortgage making the either creditors of the respondent named above parties to the suit. A decree was passed in that suit giving the creditors priority in a certain order. The Allahabad Bank not being satisfied with that order of priority, filed an appeal in the High Court at Allahabad which was decided in its favour. While the appeal was pending, the respondent applied to the Collector of Banares for relief under the Act. The procedure laid down in the Act as earlier summarised was duly followed and on March 21, 1940 the Special Judge of Banares to whom the application had been forwarded by the Collector, passed three money decrees in favour of the three creditors of the respondent mentioned above in a certain order of priority with which we shall not be concerned in this case. The total amount of such decrees came nearly to rupees nine lacs. He then sent the decrees to the Collector of Banares for execution as required by the Act. The execution of the decrees was thereafter commenced by the Additional Collector, Banares under the provisions of the Act against the properties in the United Provinces,;