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Section 36: Application to orders

Code of Civil Procedure • Official Statutory Text & Practice Guide

Statutory Regulation
Legal Standard
Competent Court / Tribunal
Act 1908
Section 35 All 158 Sections of Code of Civil Procedure Section 37

Legal Commentary & Landmark Judgments: Section 36

Section 36 extends the statutory provisions of the CPC relating to the execution of decrees to the execution of orders, including orders in suits and miscellaneous proceedings.

  • Order Execution Integration: The provisions of this Code relating to the execution of decrees (including provisions relating to payment under a decree) shall, so far as applicable, be deemed to apply to the execution of orders (including orders in miscellaneous proceedings).
  • Coercive Power for Orders: Interlocutory cost orders, interim maintenance orders, and restitution orders are executed with the full coercive machinery of Order 21 CPC.
  • Arrest, Attachment & Sale: Orders can be enforced by attachment of bank accounts, salary garnishee, or civil detention.
Key Landmark Precedents:
  • K.A. Ansari v. Indian Airlines Ltd., (2009) 2 SCC 164: The Supreme Court affirmed that under Section 36, all procedural mechanisms for enforcing decrees apply with equal force to enforcing judicial orders, preventing successful litigants from being left with unenforceable paper orders.
  • Rajnesh v. Neha, (2021) 2 SCC 324: The Supreme Court highlighted that interim maintenance orders passed in civil and matrimonial litigation are directly executable as civil decrees by virtue of Section 36.
Courtroom Practice & Strategic Litigation Guidance:

When a defendant refuses to pay interim litigation costs or interim maintenance ordered by the court, file an Execution Petition under Order 21 read with Section 36 for immediate attachment of their bank account.

Section 35 All 158 Sections of Code of Civil Procedure Section 37