BHAWANILAL LACHCHI RAM Vs. BADRI LAL

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THESE three appeals, which have been preferred by the defendants, arise out of suits for recovery of money. Since they all involve common questions of fact and law and the appellants in all of them are the same, they are being disposed of by a common judgment.

(2.) THE facts material for the disposal of these appeals may briefly be stated as follows: A Cloth dealers' Association (hereinafter called 'the Association') of which the plaintiffs in these suits along with certain others, were the members, and bhawanilal defendant No. 1 was, at the relevant time, the Chairman, was formed at Rajgarh. On a quota of cloth being allotted by the Central Government to the association it was distributed among its members. The Association used to collect the price of the cloth from such of its members amongst whom it was to be distributed, and thereafter obtained the: cloth directly from the manufacturers. The price to be paid for the cloth as also the margin of profit chargeable thereon was fixed by the Central Government. The case for the plaintiffs in each of these suits is that Bhawanilal, in his capacity as the Chairman of the Association, called upon them to deposit money for purchase of cloth for them in his own firm styled as 'laxmiram Bhawanilal'. After the plaintiffs had done so Bhawanilal set up a false story that a theft was committed at his shop by certain persons and a sum of Rs. 15,620/- was stolen which according to Bhawanilal included the moneys deposited in his firm by the plaintiffs. The cloth, for the purchase of which the plaintiffs had paid the moneys was thus never purchased by the Association and, therefore, no question of its supply to the plaintiffs ever arose. The plaintiffs sued the present appellants for rafund of the moneys deposited by them along with interest thereon.

(3.) THE suits were contested on various grounds, only some of which are material for the decision of these appeals. It may be mentioned at the outset that the defendants admitted that Bhawanilal called upon the plaintiffs to deposit the price of the cloth to be purchased for them, in Bawanilal's firm; that the sums of money claimed as principal in these suits were deposited by the plaintiffs in the said firm and a receipt therefor was issued by Ramchandra, one of the sons of Bhawanilal.