garnishee

When a decree-holder executes a money decree, he may attach a debt owed to the judgment-debtor by someone else, such as a bank holding the debtor's account or a tenant paying him rent. That third person is the garnishee. The court issues a garnishee notice calling on him to pay the debt into court or show cause why he should not; if he does not dispute the debt, the court orders payment, and payment discharges him to that extent.

The procedure is in Order XXI Rules 46A to 46I CPC. If the garnishee denies the debt, the court may decide the question as if it were a suit. The order is called a garnishee order and the process garnishee proceedings.

Example

The decree-holder obtained a garnishee order directing the judgment-debtor's bank to pay the balance in his account into court.

In Indian law

• Order XXI Rules 46A–46I, Code of Civil Procedure, 1908

See also

attachment · execution · decree-holder · judgment-debtor

Read more in the study notes

• Banker and customer: who they are and the legal character of the relationship (Banking Law)
• Rights of a banker: lien, set-off, appropriation and charges (Banking Law)
• Duties of banker and customer: honouring cheques and secrecy of accounts (Banking Law)
• Paying banker, collecting banker and crossing of cheques (Banking Law)
• Employees' provident fund under the Code on Social Security (Labour and Industrial Law II)
• Collection and recovery of tax, TDS, refunds, appeals and revision, penalties and offences (Law of Taxation)