AMALGAMATED ELECTRICITY COMPANY LIMITED Vs. JALGAON BOROUGH MUNICIPALITY

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This appeal by special leave against the judgment dated February 14, 1967, of the High Court of Bombay turns upon the interpretation of clause 3 of the agreement Ext. 39 executed between the parties containing the terms and on conditions on which the plaintiff/ appellant was to supply electricity to the defendant the Jalgaon Borough Municipality.

(2.) What appears to us to have been a short and simple case has been rendered cumbersome and complicated by somewhat complex and involved process of reasoning adopted by the High Court in interpreting the various clauses of the agreement Ext. 39. The plaintiff/appellant's case (supra) was based mainly on cl.3 of the agreement but the High Court instead of concentrating its attention on the interpretation of the scope and ambit of this particular clause appears to have entered upon a roving inquiry and a detailed determination of the history of the case, the various clauses of the agreement executed, the licence taken by the appellant, and so on, which, in our opinion, were not at all germane for the decision of the simple issue which arose in this appeal.

(3.) The facts of the case lie within a very narrow compass. The plaintiff/appellant entered into an agreement to supply electrical energy to the Jalgaon Borough Municipality as far back as 1944. The energy was to be supplied on the basis of the agreement executed between the parties in the year 1944. This agreement expired towards the end of January 1951, and a fresh agreement which is dated May 29, 1951, Ext. 39, which was to commence from February 1, 1951, was executed between the parties. This agreement was to enure for a period of five years. In the present appeal we are concerned with the terms and recitals of this agreement, particularly clause 3 thereof.