HANS RAJ KALRA Vs. KISHAN LAL KALRA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This judgment will dispose of certain preliminary issues arising in suits No. 105/70, 429/71 and 35/71, which were consolidated. 3 HCD/76-5

(2.) It appears that until his death on June 2, 1946 Ishwar Dass Kalra had been carrying on business in Delhi in the name and style of Ishwar Dass Kaira & Sons and the business consisted of a restaurant known as Esplanade Bar & Restaurant which also had an L4 licence. He was survived by three sons, Sudershan Kumar Kaira, Kishan Lal Kaira and Hans Raj Kaira. Since the death of the father there has been considerable expansion of the business which has been carried on in the name and style of Esplanade Bar & Restaurant as indeed in a number of other names and styles, such as, Kishan Lal Wine Merchant, Kishan Lal & Co. Private Ltd. and Kishan Lal Wine Merchants Private Ltd., for part of the period in the status of a joint Hindu family consisting of the three brothers and partly in the form of a partnership of which the three brothers were members. The three suits are a sequal to the unfortunate disputes that arose between Sudershan Kaira and Hans Raj Kaira, the two brothers on the one hand and Kishan Lal Kaira on the other with regard to the question as to the status of certain properties and business, including the liquor business, the extent of the right and interest of the brothers in the property and of their title to it, the entitlement of the brothers to the profits of the business and as to participation in it, the validity of certain orders made by the Excise authorities in relation to the liquor licence and various matters connected therewith and arising out of these. Two of these suits being suit Nos. 105/70 and 429/71 were filed in this Court while suit No. 35/71 was initially filed in the Court of the Senior Sub-ordinate Judge, Delhi and was eventually transferred to this Court by virtue of the pendency of the other two suits.

(3.) Suit No. 105/70 was filed by Hans Raj Kaira, one of the brothers, in 1970 for a declaration that the business of Kishan Lal & Co., along with its relevant liquor licence till April 19, 1967, was a business of the Joint Hindu Family, of which the plaintiff and the other two brothers were members, and prior to that the business of M/s. Esplanade Bar & Restaurant was similarly a business of the Joint Hindu Family in the same manner and that since April 19, 1967 the said business run in the name of M/s. Kishan Lal &, Co., Kishan Lal Wine Merchant and Kishan Lal Wine Merchants Private Ltd. are partnership businesses of the three brothers. Certain other declarations were also sought substantively and in the alternative. Relief was also sought by injunction and a plea for rendition of accounts was also made. Certain other reliefs were also sought. Kishan Lal Kaira, his son Sudershan Kumar Kaira and M/s. Kishan Lal Wine Merchants (P) Ltd. are the defendants in the suit.