Plaintiff May File Application Under Order 20 Rule 6A r/w Section 151 When Decree Has Not Been Drawn Up: Meghalaya HC

• The Hon’ble Meghalaya HC has, in the case of Shri Delican Shadap and anr. vs. Smt. Nongtri and anr. held that an application for execution can be filed under Order 20 rule 6A of CPC in cases where a case has been finally disposed of but the decree has not yet been drawn up.
• In the instant case, a suit for title was instituted by the plaintiff/petitioners in the Court of Deputy Commissioner, Nongpoh. During the course of the proceedings, a compromise was entered into between the parties and a compromise petition was filed before the lower Court and the entire suit was disposed of by an order on 4 July, 2016.
• Due to the non-compliance by the respondents of the terms of the compromise, the petitioners filed an application before the trial Court for the execution of the compromise deed, which was granted by the Court and the bailiff was appointed as a mediator to conduct a local inspection and make measurements of the respective lands of the parties and file a report.
• The respondents filed an application contesting the execution of the aforementioned compromise order on the ground that no decree was drawn up in terms of the compromise agreement, which was agreed to by the Court. It was ordered that the parties resolve their dispute on their own.
• Aggrieved, the petitioners filed a revision petition before the HC.
• The Counsel for the petitioners relied upon the decision of the Hon’ble Apex Court in the case of Satnam Singh and ors. vs. Surender Kaur and ors wherein it was held that to decide whether the case has been completely disposed of, the following five criteria have to be satisfied:

a) There should be an adjudication;
b) It should be given in a suit;
c) Adjudication must have determined the rights of the parties with regard to all the matters in controversy;
d) This determination must be conclusive in nature;
e) There must be a formal expression of this adjudication.

• The petitioner had thus argued that in this case, all the five conditions had been satisfied, the terms of the compromise were detailed and were signed by both the parties. It was also pleaded that the Court had to move ex parte against the respondents since they failed to appear before the Court even after repeated summons.
• The Hon’ble HC relied upon the decision of the Hon’ble Apex Court in the case of Sir Sobha Singh and Sons Pvt. Ltd. vs. Shashi Mohan Kapur (deceased), where the Court had held that an execution application can be filed without a certified copy of the decree. The Court had also observed that as long as an official decree had not been drawn up, the order had to be treated as a decree as is enshrined in Order 20 Rule 6A(2) of CPC.
• It is noteworthy to mention here that Order 20 Rule 6A(2) of CPC states that till the time the official decree has not been drawn up, the order of the Court would be treated as a decree, for the purpose of execution or for any other purpose.
• Thus, the impugned order of the lower Court was set aside and the Executing Court was ordered to draw up the decree in terms of the compromise which was entered into by the parties.