UNION OF INDIA Vs. HAJI ABDUL KARIM SAIT

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The defendants in O.S. No. 24 of 1952 of the District Court of Trivandrum are the appellants before us. They are the Union of India and the General Manager of the Southern Railway, Madras.

(2.) The claim made in the suit, and decreed, was for short delivery of certain bales of cloth. The goods were booked at Ahmedabad on the Western Railway (ex. - B.B. & C. I. Railway) for delivery at Trivandrum on the Southern Railway. It has been found that the missing bales were stolen while on the former railway; and that finding is not challenged before us.

(3.) The first question urged before us on behalf of the appellants is that the suit was bad for non compliance with S.80 of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908. That section provides that no suit shall be instituted against the Central Government where it relates to a railway until the expiration of two months next after notice in writing has been delivered to or left at the office of, the General Manager of that railway. The notice under the section was given in this case only to the General Manager of the Southern Railway. It is agreed that no notice was Issued to the General Manager of the Western Railway.