Sale generally (Rule 64 – 73)

Rule 64: Power to order property attached to be sold and proceeds to be paid to person entitled—

Any Court executing a decree may order that any property attached by it and liable to sale, or such portion thereof as may seem necessary to satisfy the decree, shall be sold, and that the proceeds of such sale, or a sufficient portion thereof, shall be paid to the party entitled under the decree to receive the same.

Rule 65: Sales by whom conducted and how made—

Save as otherwise prescribed, every sale in execution of a decree shall be conducted by an officer of the Court or by such other person as the Court may appoint in this behalf, and shall be made by public auction in manner prescribed.

Rule 66: Proclamation of sales by public auction—

(1) Where any property is ordered to be sold by public auction in execution of a decree, the Court shall cause a proclamation of the intended sale to be made in the language of such Court.

(2) Such proclamation shall be drawn up after notice to the decree-holder and the judgment-debtor and shall state the time and place of sale, and specify as fairly and accurately as possible—

(a) the property to be sold or, where a part of the property would be sufficient to satisfy the decree, such part;

(b) the revenue assessed upon the estate or part of the estate, where the property to be sold is an interest in an estate or in part of an estate paying revenue to the Government;

(c) any encumbrance to which the property is liable;

(d) the amount for the recovery of which the sale is ordered; and

(e) every other thing which the Court considers material for a purchaser to know in order to judge of the nature and value of the property:

Provided that where notice of the date for settling the terms of the proclamation has been given to the judgment-debtor by means of an order under Rule 54, it shall not be necessary to give notice under this rule to the judgment-debtor unless the Court otherwise directs:

Provided further that nothing in this rule shall be construed as requiring the Court to enter in the proclamation of sale its own estimate of the value of the property, but the proclamation shall include the estimate, if any, given, by either or both of the parties.

(3) Every application for an order for sale under this rule shall be accompanied by a statement signed and verified in the manner hereinbefore prescribed for the signing and verification of pleadings and containing, so far as they are known to or can be ascertained by the person making the verification, the matters required by sub-rule (2) to be specified in the proclamation.

(4) For the purpose of ascertaining the matters to be specified in the proclamation, the Court may summon any person whom it thinks necessary to summon and may examine him in respect to any such matters and require him to produce any document in his possession or power relating thereto.

Rule 67: Mode of making proclamation—

(1) Every proclamation shall be made and published, as nearly as may be, in the manner prescribed by Rule 54, sub-rule (2).

(2) Where the Court so directs, such proclamation shall also be published in the Official Gazette or in a local newspaper, or in both, and the costs of such publication shall be deemed to be costs of the sale.

(3) Where property is divided into lots for the purpose of being sold separately, it shall not be necessary to make a separate proclamation for each lot, unless proper notice of the sale cannot, in the opinion of the Court, otherwise be given.

Rule 68: Time of sale—

Save in the case of property of the kind described in the proviso to Rule 43, no sale hereunder shall, without the consent in writing of the judgment-debtor, take place until after the expiration of at least fifteen days in the case of immovable property, and of at least seven days in the case of movable property, calculated from the date on which the copy of the proclamation has been affixed on the court house of the Judge ordering the sale.

Rule 69: Adjournment or stoppage of sale—

(1) The Court may, in its discretion, adjourn any sale hereunder to a specified day and hour, and the officer conducting any such sale may in his discretion adjourn the sale, recording his reasons for such adjournment:

Provided that, where the sale is made in, or within the precincts of, the court house, no such adjournment shall be made without the leave of the Court.

(2) Where a sale is adjourned under sub-rule (1) for a longer period than thirty days a fresh proclamation under Rule 67 shall be made, unless the judgment-debtor consents to waive it.

(3) Every sale shall be stopped if, before the lot is knocked down, the debt and costs (including the costs of the sale) or tendered to the officer conducting the sale, or proof is given to his satisfaction that the amount of such debt and costs has been paid into the Court which ordered the sale.

Rule 70: Saving of certain sales—

Repealed by Act 66 of 1956

Rule 71: Defaulting purchaser answerable for loss on re-sale—

Any deficiency of price which may happen on a re-sale by reason of the purchaser’s default, and all expenses attending such re-sale, shall be certified to the Court by the officer or other person holding the sale, and shall, at the instance of either the decree-holder or the judgment-debtor, be recoverable from the defaulting purchaser under the provisions relating to the execution of a decree for the payment of money.

Rule 72: Decree-holder not to bid for or buy property without permission—

(1) No holder of a decree in execution of which property is sold shall, without the express permission of the Court, bid for or purchase the property.

(2) Where decree-holder purchases, amount of decree may be taken as payment—Where a decree-holder purchases with such permission, the purchase-money and the amount due on the decree may, subject to the provisions of Section 73, be set off against one another, and the Court executing the decree shall enter up satisfaction of the decree in whole or in part accordingly.

(3) Where a decree-holder purchases, by himself or through another person, without such permission, the Court may, if it thinks fit, on the application of the judgment-debtor or any other person whose interests are affected by the sale, by order set aside the sale; and the costs of such application and order, and any deficiency of price which may happen on the resale and all expenses attending it, shall be paid by the decree-holder.

Rule 72-A: Mortgagee not to bid at sale without the leave of the Court—

(1) Notwithstanding anything contained in Rule 72, a mortgagee of immovable property shall not bid for or purchase property sold in execution of a decree on the mortgage unless the Court grants him leave to bid for or purchase the property.

(2) If leave to bid is granted to such mortgagee, then the Court shall fix a reserve price as regards the mortgagee, and unless the Court otherwise directs, the reserve price shall be—

(a) not less than the amount then due for principal, interest and costs in respect of the mortgage if the property is sold in one lot; and

(b) in the case of any property sold in lots, not less than such sum as shall appear to the Court to be properly attributable to each lot in relation to the amount then due for principal, interest and costs on the mortgage.

(3) In other respects, the provisions of sub-rules (2) and (3) of Rule 72 shall apply in relation to purchase by the decree-holder under that rule.

Rule 73: Restriction on bidding or purchase by officers—

No officer or other person having any duty to perform in connection with any sale shall, either directly, or indirectly, bid for, acquire or attempt to acquire any interest in the property sold.

CONNECTED SECTIONS

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