Your debtor has no liquid funds you can attach — but their customers do. Order 21 Rule 46 of the CPC lets you redirect those receivables to you by court order. Underused, technically complex, devastating when granted. The garnishee mechanism is how creditors recover from debtors who've hollowed out their own accounts but still have money flowing in.
A garnishee order is issued in execution proceedings against a third party (the 'garnishee') who owes money to your judgment-debtor. The garnishee is directed to pay the amount owed to you instead of to the original creditor. Common garnishees: banks holding deposits, customers who owe trade payables, tenants paying rent, government departments owing tender dues, employers paying salary (subject to Section 60 CPC limits).
Order 21 Rule 46, with Rules 46A-46I added by the 1976 Amendment, provides: application by the judgment-creditor to the executing court; notice issued to the garnishee; garnishee shows cause within specified time; if liability is admitted or established, garnishee is directed to pay; if garnishee disputes, the execution court enquires; garnishee can be examined as a witness.
- Decree exists and is executable.
- Specific garnishee owes specific amount to the judgment-debtor.
- The debt is currently due (not contingent on a future event).
- The debt is not exempt from attachment under Section 60 CPC.
Evidence typically used: existing contracts and invoices between judgment-debtor and garnishee; bank account confirmation (for bank garnishees); public filings; GST returns showing flow of funds between the two; witness statements from the judgment-debtor's employees or vendors.
The most powerful enforcement strategy combines attachment of the judgment-debtor's bank accounts (Order 21 Rule 46) with garnishee orders on the judgment-debtor's customers (Order 21 Rule 46A) and a charge on receivables generally. Result: the judgment-debtor cannot receive money. Money flows directly to you.
Garnishee target effectiveness — recovery rate by target type
Bank account garnishee
Major customer (B2B receivable)
Government tender dues
Online aggregator (Amazon/Flipkart)
Insurance settled claim
Funded-matter execution observations 2023-2026. Bank accounts have highest recovery rate but lowest cap (only liquid balance available); customer garnishees recover less per attempt but ongoing receivables make this the highest-yield target over time.
- Major customers paying trade dues — often identifiable from the judgment-debtor's GSTR-1 filings.
- Banks holding overdraft or cash credit accounts.
- Online aggregators (Amazon, Flipkart, Meesho) holding seller payouts.
- Government entities owing tender or AOC payments.
- Insurance companies holding settled claims yet to be disbursed.
- Garnishee has no current dues to the judgment-debtor (only future or contingent).
- Garnishee can credibly dispute the debt.
- Judgment-debtor's customers stop paying through formal channels (cash, third-party invoicing).
- Cross-border garnishee — limited jurisdiction.
Garnishee orders are the execution-stage equivalent of Order 38 Rule 5 attachment. Both interrupt the flow of money. Attachment is pre-decree and reactive; garnishee is post-decree and follows the money trail. For B2B recovery against a counterparty that's still operating but has stopped paying, identifying their customers via GST filings and serving garnishee notice on those customers is the single highest-leverage execution move available.