KRISHNA RANJAN BASU RAY Vs. UNION OF INDIA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This Rule came up for hearing before Guha J. and he has referred it to a Division Bench. The suit was brought on the allegation that the plaintiff booked a consignment of torch-lights and batteries with the Bengal and Assam Railway on 16-11-1946 and that these were not delivered. The plaintiff brought a suit in a Barisal Court against the Governor General in Council as representing the Bengal and Assam Railway and obtained a decree. That decree was hit by the provisions of Indian Independence (Pakistan Court) Act (Act 9 of 1952) and thereupon the plaintiff brought a fresh suit against the Union of India in the Court of Small Causes at Sealdah. The question was raised that in view of the provisions of S. 8, Indian Independence (Rights, Property and Liabilities) Order, 1947, the Government of Pakistan is wholly responsible for any liability that may arise for breach of contract and that the Government of India has no liability. The relevant provisions of Section 8 are in these words:

(2.) On behalf of the petitioner, Mr. Guha has argued that this conclusion is wrong. Mr. Guha's contention is two-fold. In the first place, he contends that the provisions of Section 8(1) only apply to a contract which has remained unbroken on the appointed day, that is, 15-8-1947. He has tried to persuade us that as the contract in this case had been entered into on a date earlier than 15-8-1947 and had also been broken before that date, it could not properly be said that the contract is for a purpose which from that day is the purpose of the Dominion of Pakistan.

(3.) In my judgment, there is no substance in this contention. The fact that the contract had been broken before 15-8-1947 did not affect the importance of the question on whose behalf the contract had been made. When the question of liability as regards a contract is being provided for, it is reasonable to think that a broken contract was as much in the minds of the legislators as contracts which have not been broken.