Resistance to Delivery of Possession

In one line

A decree-holder who is physically blocked when he goes to take possession does not have to file a fresh suit: Rule 97 lets him complain to the executing court, and Rule 101 requires that court to decide every question, including title.

The problem the rules solve

A decree for possession is worth nothing if the bailiff arrives and finds somebody standing in the doorway saying "the decree is not against me". Before 1976 the decree-holder's remedy in a contested case was often a separate suit, which meant starting again after already winning.

The Code now handles it inside the execution proceeding. Two situations are covered, and they are mirror images:

Rule 97, the decree-holder is resisted or obstructed and complains. Rule 99, a stranger has been dispossessed by the decree-holder and complains.

Both then run through the same machinery: Rule 101 for what is decided, Rules 98 and 100 for the order, and Rule 103 for the status of that order.

Resistance: Rule 97

Rule 97(1): where the holder of a decree for the possession of immovable property, or the purchaser of any such property sold in execution of a decree, is resisted or obstructed by any person in obtaining possession of the property, he may make an application to the Court complaining of such resistance or obstruction.

Rule 97(2): where any such application is made, the Court shall proceed to adjudicate upon the application in accordance with the provisions contained in this set of rules.

Two things to note. The remedy belongs to the auction purchaser as well as the decree-holder. And sub-rule (2) is mandatory: the Court shall adjudicate. It cannot send the applicant away to file a suit.

Dispossession of a stranger: Rule 99

Rule 99(1): where any person other than the judgment-debtor is dispossessed of immovable property by the holder of a decree for possession, or, where the property has been sold in execution, by the purchaser, he may make an application to the Court complaining of such dispossession.

Rule 99(2): the Court shall proceed to adjudicate upon the application.

So the rules cut both ways. Rule 97 protects the decree-holder against obstruction; Rule 99 protects a stranger who has been thrown out under a decree that was never against him.

What the court decides: Rule 101

This is the rule that changed the law, and it should be quoted.

Rule 101: all questions (including questions relating to right, title or interest in the property) arising between the parties to a proceeding on an application under rule 97 or rule 99, or their representatives, and relevant to the adjudication of the application, shall be determined by the Court dealing with the application AND NOT BY A SEPARATE SUIT; and for that purpose the Court shall, notwithstanding anything to the contrary contained in any other law for the time being in force, be deemed to have jurisdiction to decide such questions.