The Himachal Pradesh High Court has held that even if the Himachal Pradesh Co-operative Societies Act, 1968, contains no express provision for filing objections in execution proceedings, the principles of natural justice require that a judgment debtor be given an opportunity to be heard.
Justice Ajay Mohan Goel set aside an order of the Collector-cum-Deputy Registrar, Mandi, which had rejected objections filed by a petitioner in execution proceedings initiated by the Mandi Urban Co-operative Bank Ltd. The authority had reasoned that the Act and its Rules do not permit objections during execution.
Terming this approach legally unsustainable, the Court observed:
“The findings returned by the Authority that as the Himachal Pradesh Co-operative Societies Act and Rules do not provide for filing of any objections in the course of deciding the execution proceedings, no objections can be entertained, are not sustainable in the eyes of law. The mechanism of natural justice is inbuilt and inherent and no one can be condemned unheard.”
The Court noted that Sections 87 and 89 of the Act deal with execution of awards in accordance with law and the prescribed rules, which necessarily require fair hearing. It emphasised that execution of an award “cannot be decided in a mundane manner” without affording the judgment debtor an opportunity to contest it.
Allowing the petition, the Court held that the right to execute an award carries with it the obligation to ensure that the opposite party is not denied the opportunity to present objections, even in the absence of an explicit statutory provision.
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