OFFICIAL ASSIGNEE OF MADRAS Vs. R MUNUSWAMY NAIDU

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The Official Assignee of Madras as assignee of the Estate of T. R. Tawker and Sons, insolvents herein, asks for an order that the respondents may be directed to hand over certain diamonds or pay the value thereof.

(2.) T. Bhavani Shanker Tawker, one of the insolvents, was adjudicated on 17th January 1925, He obtained permission of the Insolvency Court which was granted to him by order dated 5th Octo-ber 1937, to do business as a jewel- valuer and broker on certain conditions as to keeping of proper accounts and paying monthly allocations to the Official Assignee. The Official Assignee was informed by a letter written on behalf of the first respondent, dated 30th June 1950, that T. Bhavani Shankar Tawker, who will be referred to as insolvent, instituted O. S. No. 1219 of 1948 on the file of the City Civil Court, Madras, against the first respondent for recovery of a sum of Rs. 7,965-1-0 being the value of diamonds entrusted by him to the first respondent. The Official Assignee, after obtaining directions of the Insolvency Court, applied to the City Civil Court to be added as a party plaintiff to the said suit, but that application was dismissed. The suit instituted by the insolvent was eventually dismissed on the ground that being an undischarged insolvent, he was not entitled to maintain the suit and that the business transacted by him with reference to the diamonds which was the subject matter of the suit did not come within the purview of the permission granted by this Court for doing business.

(3.) The present application has been filed by the Official Assignee for recovery of this property, it being the insolvent's after-acquired property. The Official Assignee's case is that he was kept out of knowledge of the existence of this asset both by the insolvent and the respondents and that it was only by a letter dated 30th June 1950 that the Official Assignee was, for the first time, intimated of the existence of this asset. He therefore has taken out the present application for the benefit of the general body of creditors and he is seeking to cover the diamonds or their value.