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Judgment
The petitioner, who was appellant in the District Court, seeks to have the order of the District Court set aside on the ground that the Judge
exercised a jurisdiction which he did not possess. That order confirmed the order of the District Munsif, which proceeded on the ground of fraud
practiced upon the judgment-debtor.
It appears that the sale had been confirmed before the application to sot it aside was made. That being so we are of opinion that the ground
assigned by the Judge for confirming the District Munsif''s order is not a valid one, because the omission to send the certificate required by Section
224 could not effect the jurisdiction of the Court to sell. It would be a more irregularity not entitling any party to have the sale set aside after
confirmation. The only ground, as it appears to us, on which the order of the District Munsif could be supported would be that the sale had been
brought about by fraud to which the purchaser was a party. Fraud as between the decree-holder and the judgment-debtor only could not affect the
purchaser.
The District Munsif does not find distinctly that the purchaser was party to the fraud, and he also omits to say whether the fraud was discovered
after the confirmation of the sale.
We are of opinion that, unless there was evidence that the purchaser was party to the fraud, and that the judgment-debtor discovered it
subsequently to the confirmation of the sale, the District Munsif would have had no jurisdiction to set it aside. In the absence of such evidence the
case would be a proper one for interference u/s 622. We must ask the Principal District Munsif of Calicut to return a finding on the above question
within one month from the date of the receipt of this order. Seven days will be allowed for filing objections after the finding has been posted up in
this Court.
