Registrars in Goa cannot treat Indian civil court decrees as ‘foreign’ under Portugese CPC: Bombay High Court

The Bombay High Court recently ruled that a decree passed by a competent civil court in India cannot be construed as a foreign decree under the Portuguese Code of Civil Procedure, 1939. 

A Division Bench of Justices Valmiki Menezes and Amit Jamsandekar directed the State Registrar and all sub-registrars in Goa not to treat the decrees issued by any civil court in India as foreign decrees.

The Court also said that the authorities cannot insist on review and confirmation by the High Court for decrees passed by an Indian court. It, thus, ordered the authorities to dispose of within two weeks all pending applications where such objections were raised.

"After the liberation, the local and special law of the State of Goa cannot treat the rest of India as foreign territory. The objections raised by the Registrar in the present matter that the decree passed by the Family Court, Bangalore ought to be reviewed and confirmed by the High Court are arbitrary, perverse and contrary to law,” the Court said. 

The Court was dealing with a case in which the Civil-cum-Sub Registrar in Goa's Salcete had declined to cancel a 2007 marriage entry on the strength of a 2022 divorce decree passed by a family court in Bengaluru.  The registrar had said that the Bengaluru court ruling was a “foreign decree” under the Portuguese Code of Civil Procedure, 1939. 

However, the High Court's Goa Bench quashed the Registrar’s objection and ordered cancellation of the marriage entry within one week.

The Bench cited Supreme Court decisions to reiterate that the Portuguese Civil Code, 1867, that remains in force in Goa by a parliamentary legislation, is now an Indian law and no longer a foreign law. 

The Court added that its provisions on “foreign judgments” can apply only to judgments of courts outside India. It also said that the interpretation of 'foreign court' and 'foreign judgment' in Portuguese enactments, following the extension of the Code of Civil Procedure (CPC) to Goa, must align with the definitions provided in the CPC. 

Advocates A Agni and Juniad Shaikh appeared for the husband.

Advocate Sameer Talekar appeared for the wife.

Additional government advocate Rishikesh Gawas appeared for State of Goa.

[Read Judgment]