Vallabhaneni Ratnakumari and Another vs Katta Subbaravamma

M.N. Rao, J.—This civil revision petition is against the order passed by the learned III Additional District Munsif, Machilipatnam in I. A. No. 1560 of 1991 in S. C. No. 94 of 1991 directing conditional attachment of an amount of Rs. 4,000/- out of the General Insurance amount of Rs. 50,000/- standing in the name of Vallabhaneni Satyanarayana, the defendant in the suit, who died during the pendency of the suit and whose legal representatives are his wife and son, the petitioners herein.

Alleging that the deceased Satyanarayana was an employee of the Andhra Scientific Company at Machilipatnam, the successor of which is the Bharat Electronic Limited (BEL), and that he borrowed a sum of Rs. 3,000/- by executing a promissory-note on 2-2-1988 for meeting his family expenses but paid only Rs. 500/- and had not repaid the balance, the suit was laid by the respondent herein (Katta Subbaravamma). An Interlocutory Application, I. A. No. 1560/1991, under Order 38 Rule 5 C. P. C. was filed seeking attachment of the General Insurance amount of Rs. 50,000/- in G. I. No. 4/329, standing to the credit of the deceased defendant. That application was allowed by the learned III Additional District Munsif observing that the relief of conditional attachment sought by the respondent herein was not hit by Section 60(kb) C. P. C. Aggrieved by that, the present civil revision petition was brought.

The only point urged before me by the learned Counsel for the petitioners is that u/s. 10(1) of the Employees'' Provident Funds and Miscellaneous Provisions Act, 1952 (for short "the Act"), the amount standing to the credit of any member in the Fund is not liable to attachment. I am inclined to accept this contention. The expression "Fund" is defined by Section 2(h) of the Act as meaning the provident fund established under a Scheme. Section 10(1) of the Act, which speaks of protection against attachment, is in the following terms :-

"Protection against attachment :- (1) The amount standing to the credit of any member in the Fund or of any exempted employee in a Provident Fund shall not in any way be capable of being assigned or charged and shall not be liable to attachment under any decree or order of any Court in respect of any debt or liability incurred by the member or the exempted employee and neither the official assignee appointed under the Presidency-towns Insolvency Act, 1909, nor any receiver appointed under the Provincial Insolvency Act, 1920, shall be entitled to, or have any claim on, any such amount.

(2) Any amount standing to the credit of a member in the Fund or of an exempted employee in a provident fund at the time of his death and payable to his nominee under the Scheme or the rules of the provident fund shall, subject to any deduction authorised by the said Scheme or rules, vest in the nominee and shall be free from any debt or other liability incurred by the deceased or other liability incurred by the deceased or the nominee before the death of the member or of the exempted employee and shall also not be liable to attachment under any decree or order of any Court.

(3) The provisions of sub-section (1) and sub-section (2) shall, so far as may be, apply in relation to the family pension or any other amount payable under the Family Pension Scheme and also in relation to any amount payable under the Insurance Scheme as they apply in relation to any amount payable out of the Fund".

The scheme in question is Group Insurance Scheme, to which the deceased had contributed, and at the time of his death, a sum of Rs. 50,000/- was standing to his credit. Sub-section (1) of Section 10(1) of the Act in clearer terms lays down that any amount standing to the credit of any member in the Fund shall not be liable to attachment under any decree or order of any member in the Fund shall no be liable to attachment under any decree or order of any Court in respect of any debt or liability "incurred by the member". Under subsection (2) of Section 10(1) of the Act, the amount standing to the credit of a member in the Fund at the time of his death and payable to his nominee shall, subject to any deduction authorised by the scheme or rules, "vest in the nominee and shall be free from any debt or other liability incurred by the deceased or the nominee before the death of the member........" A combined reading of sub-sections (1) and (2) thereof makes it abundantly clear that the amount in question is not liable to be attached, and the nominees or, where there are no nominees, the legal representatives, are entitled to receive the amount "free from any debt or other liability incurred by the deceased". The said amount of Rs. 50,000/- standing to the credit of the deceased Satyanarayana must, therefore, be paid to the nominees or, if there are no nominees, his legal representatives, and no part of that amount is liable to be attached whatever be the extent of the debt or liability incurred by the deceased Satyanarayana. The impugned order of the learned III Additional District Munsif, Machilipatnam, made in I. A. No. 1560 of 1991 in S. C. No. 94 of 1991 is, therefore, set aside and the civil revision petition is accordingly allowed. No costs.