PAKISTAN Law and Practice Contributed by: Abdul Muqtadir Khan, Syed Absar Rahat Rizvi, Hammad Saleem and Zair Zaman Khan, Khan & Arshad
Modes of Execution The main modes are: • attachment and sale of movable or immovable property; • garnishee proceedings against debts owed to the judgment-debtor (including bank balances) under Rule 46; • attachment of government or private-sector salary under Rules 48 and 48A; • delivery of possession for property decrees; • appointment of a receiver; and • for money decrees, arrest and civil detention of the debtor (capped at a limited period and subject to exemptions). Other Remedies Breach of an injunction is enforced through contempt and attachment under Order XXXIX Rule 2A. Paki - stan has no separate “charging order” as such, but attachment achieves a similar effect. Attachment of debts and receivables owed to the judgment-debtor (garnishee proceedings) is the nearest equivalent to a third-party debt order, and attachment of salary func - tions as an attachment of earnings, subject to the proviso to Section 60 (1) of the CPC, which exempts a statutory portion of salary. Where the debtor is genu - inely insolvent, a decree-holder can instead pursue insolvency proceedings under the Provincial Insol - vency Act, 1920 or, for a company, winding-up under the Companies Act, 2017. 2.3 Costs and Time Taken to Enforce Domestic Judgments Costs Court fees for an execution application are nominal, so the main cost is legal fees, which scale with the complexity of the debtor’s objections. Timing Timing varies widely with the mode chosen. Attaching a bank account or salary is usually the fastest route, often resolved within months if the funds are identified quickly. Attaching and auctioning immovable property is far slower, commonly taking two to seven years on average once objections, valuation and sale-confir - mation proceedings are factored in, and rural land can take even longer. In practice, the threat of arrest for a
• summary judgments are available under Order XXXVII for suits on negotiable instruments and similar liquidated claims; • judgments on admission under Order XII Rule 6, interim or interlocutory orders (including injunctions under Order XXXIX); and • final judgments, which can decree a specific sum of money, possession of property, specific perfor - mance, partition, permanent injunction or declara - tory relief. Family courts issue decrees in matrimonial and cus - tody matters, and the probate jurisdiction issues let - ters of administration and probate. Other recognised decrees include preliminary and final decrees (for example, in mortgage suits under Order XXXIV and partition suits under Order XX Rule 18 CPC) and con - sent or compromise decrees recording a settlement under Order XXIII Rule 3 CPC. Each culminates in a formal “decree” that is the actual instrument enforced in execution. Decrees also issue from specialised forums. Banking courts constituted under the Finan - cial Institutions (Recovery of Finances) Ordinance, 2001, for instance, pass decrees for recovery of finances in favour of financial institutions, which are executed in substantially the same manner as decrees of the ordinary civil courts. 2.2 Enforcement of Domestic Judgments The Execution Application A decree is enforced by filing an execution applica - tion under Section 42 read with Order XXI CPC (Sec - tions 36–74) before the court that passed it, or a court to which it has been transferred. Under Sections 38 and 39 CPC, a decree may be sent for execution to another court, including one in another district, where the judgment-debtor resides, carries on business or holds property. In the province of Punjab, as per the latest amended law, on passing of an executable decree by a court, the suit shall stand converted into execution proceed - ings and no separate application for the purpose and no fresh notice to the judgment-debtor shall be nec - essary.
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