Director General Directorate Of Accounts And Treasuries J&K And Anr vs Arif Hameed Ganie And Anr

Sanjay Dhar, J

Through the medium of the petition bearing CM(M) No. 24/2023, the petitioners have challenged order dated 27.07.2022 passed by the learned Principal District Judge, Anantnag to the extent it directs petitioner No. 2 to honour the bills of the judgment debators/respondent No. 3 to 6 after relaxing the existing General Financial Rules.

Another petition bearing CM(M) No. 44/2023 has been filed by the petitioners/decree holders seeking a direction upon the Executing Court i.e, Principal District Judge, Anantnag to take expeditious steps for execution of the decree dated 19.12.2020.

Heard and considered.

It appears that a judgment and decree dated 19.12.2020 came to be passed by the learned Principal District Judge, Anantnag whereby decree holder-Arif Hameed Ganai was held entitled to a sum of Rs. 32,48,247/- and decree holder-Mohammad Ayoub Ganie was held entitled to a sum of Rs. 32,75,742/-. The decretal sum was to be recovered from the judgment debator/Irrigation and Flood Control Department, Anantnag. It also appears that when the judgment debator did not make payment of the amount to the decree holders, the learned Executing Court passed the impugned direction dated 27.07.2022, wherein it was provided that the judgment debator/Executive Engineer, Flood Control Division, Anantnag shall submit the bills to the extent of the principal amount of the decree pertaining to the Account Head 4711(Works Head) before the District Treasury Officer who shall honour the bills under rules. A further direction was issued that the District Treasury Officer shall relax the existing GF Rules if any in place.

The District Treasury Officer feeling aggrieved with the aforesaid direction has challenged the same by contending that the said Officer is not a competent authority to relax the GFR. It has been further submitted by learned counsel appearing for the District Treasury officer that the whole system of drawal and payment of bills has been computerized and the Treasuries have switched over to online mode. It has been submitted that unless all information is fed in the computer, it is impossible to get the payment of the bills. In these circumstances, it has been contended that it is beyond the jurisdiction of the District Treasury officer to change the software or even to relax the GFR.

There appears to be some merit in the contention raised by the District Treasury Officer, Anantnag. Having regard to fact that payment of bills through Government Treasuries has been computerized and made online, it is impossible to procure payment of bills without following the prescribed mode unless the software itself is modified. Neither the modification of the software nor the relaxation in GFR is within the domain of the of the District Treasury Officer. The learned District Judge, it seems, without realizing the difficulty of the District Treasury Officer, has passed the impugned direction which in the facts and circumstances of the case is impossible for the District Treasury officer to implement. Law does not compel a person to do a thing which is not possible. Therefore, the impugned order passed by the learned Principal District Judge, Anantnag is not sustainable in law and as such the same deserves to be set aside.

However, there is yet another much more important aspect of the matter which is required to be addressed. The decree holders have earned a decree in their favour about three years back but they are yet to reap its fruits. Merely because the impugned order passed by the Executing Court cannot be implemented, the decree holders cannot be left remediless. There are sufficient provisions in the Code of Civil Procedure and debator can be compelled to satisfy a decree. The Learned many more modes have been prescribed therein whereby a judgment Executing Court has to explore these modes and methods and ensure that the decree holders are paid their money in accordance with the terms of the decree. These methods may inter alia include attachment/auction of the assets of the judgment debator department, attachment of the salary of the Officers of the judgment debator department.

In view of the above, while setting aside the order dated 27.02.2022 passed by the Principal District Judge, Anantnag, a direction is issued to the Executing court to ensure that all necessary steps in accordance with law are taken in connection with the satisfaction of the decree. The learned Executing Court would do well to ensure that the decree earned by the decree holders is satisfied by the judgment debators expeditiously preferably within a period of three months from the date a copy of this order is made available to the learned District Judge.

Disposed of as above.