CHIRANJIT LAL GAMBIR ADV Vs. NARANG INDUSTRIES LTD

JUDGEMENT

(1.) These are two appeals arising out of proceedings under the Displaced Persons (Debts Adjustment) Act, 1951.

(2.) Three brothers, Chiranjit Lal Gambir, Kishan Dev Gambir and Manmohan Gambir constituted a partnership firm, M/s. Dewan Chand and Sons, and carried on the business of forest contractors and timber merchants at Jhelum, Lahore, Havelian, and Abbottabad, all situated, in what is now Western Pakistan. This business was carried on by the firm, which is the appellant before us, until partition of the country in 1947, when the three brothers migrated to Dehradun.

(3.) The Displaced Persons (Debts Adjustment) Act, 1951 was brought into force in the State of Utter Pradesh on and from December 10, 1951, and on December, 9, 1952 an application was made by the firm under Section 5 of the Act praying that its liabilities be adjusted and scaled down under the provisions of the Act. In that application reference was made to a loan taken from the Narang Bank of India Ltd., Lahore in respect of which a promissory note was executed by the appellant, and it was stated that the Bank subsequently transferred the promissory note in favour of the first respondent, M/s. Narang Industries Ltd., who instituted, a suit on the basis of the promissory note and obtained a decree for Rs. 25,000/- on August 4, 1952 against the appellant. The appellant claimed that the decree was liable to be reopened and the liability under it reduced in accordance with the provisions of the Act. A number of other transactions were also set out in the application, and the parties to those transactions were impleaded as respondents. The application was registered as D. A. No. 692 of 1952.