Gujarat High Court Civil Manual (subordinate court practice), 1960
Under sections 287 and 652 of the old Code the High Court framed certain rules, which, in so far as they are consistent with the new Code are still in force. So far as they are so consistent they are as follows :— (i) Where the Record of Rights has been completed, the extract to be put under section 238 of the Civil Procedure Code should be an extract from the register of that Record, and a copy of the entry, if any, in the Register of Mutations and the same should be utilized in the enquiry under section 287 of the Civil Procedure Code. (ii) If it can be done without unreasonable delay the Court shall examine the judgment-debtor or some person acquainted with the circumstances as to his interest in the property and especially as to his share therein, if he is a Hindu, and as to the encumbrances, if any, existing thereon. (See Form No. 28, Appendix E of Schedule I.) (iii) The Court may require the judgment-debtor to produce any title deeds relating to the property which may be in his possession or power and may retain such documents till the property is sold or released from attachment. It shall with the certificate of sale deliver to the purchaser such of them as relate solely to the property sold and on his demand and at his cost shall give him copies of such of them as relate to the property sold as well as other property. It shall return all documents which may not under this rule be delivered to the purchaser to the person by whom or on whose behalf they shall have been produced. When any incumbrance on the property shall be discharged from the sale-proceeds, the Court shall have like power to direct the production of title-deeds by the encumbrancer and to deliver them to the purchaser or to furnish him with copies thereof and to return them. (iv) The Court shall give notice on the board of the date on which it proposes to hold an enquiry under section 287, and may summon any person likely to afford material information to attend and give evidence and produce any documents relating to the property which may be in his possession or control. Such documents shall be returned after inspection, the Court retaining copies, if it thinks necessary, prepared at the applicant's expense. (v) All costs of the enquiry shall be advanced by the applicant. They shall be treated as costs in the execution proceedings and may be apportioned as the Court thinks fit. (vi) It shall be borne in mind that the enquiry under section 287 is independent of any enquiry consequent on an application made under section 278, Civil Procedure Code. The object of the enquiry under section 287 is merely to collect particulars to be inserted in the proclamation for the information of intending purchasers. The conclusions arrived at in this enquiry are not subject to appeal, and, as a rule, are not determinative between the parties. (vii) The enquiry shall be completed as soon as possible. When it is finished, the proclamation of the said sale shall be prepared in the form prescribed. (No. 29, Appendix E, Schedule 1). If in the case of a Hindu judgment-debtor it is desired to sell the interest of any other member of the family (e.g. that of a minor son or brother) the name of such member and the fact that his interest is being sold ought to be stated in the proclamation, as otherwise his interest may not pass to the purchaser. To the proclamation shall be appended a list of all claims for which, in the opinion of the Court, there is a reasonable and probable cause—such as claims of co-parceners, reversioners in the case of Hindu females, or mortgagees, or tenants, etc. The list may be varied as occasion requires.