LALIT MOHUN DUTTA Vs. BASUDEB DUTTA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This Rule was obtained against the judgment and order of the Full Bench of the Court of Small Causes, Calcutta, dated June 12, 1974. By that order the defendants' application under Section 38 of the Presidency Small Cause Courts Act was allowed and the plaintiff's suit was dismissed in modification of the order passed by the trial Judge. The relevant facts are as follows: The plaintiff instituted a suit for recovery of a sum of Rs. 1,000/- stated to be the unpaid consideration for the sale of his business to the defendants who are his sons. The plaintiff also included in the suit a claim of a sum of Rs. 2,450/- against the defendants, as the monthly payment of Rs. 50/- due from March 14, 1969 to March, 1971, for 24 months and 15 days on the basis of the two written agreements executed by each of the defendants on March 14, 1969. By these agreements each of the defendants agreed to pay to their father, the plaintiff, during his lifetime by way of pocket expenses a sum of Rs. 50/- in consideration of the great regard they had for their father. They however failed to pay the amounts mentioned above and the suit was instituted on April 24, 1971, in the Small Causes Court, Calcutta, being Suit No. 1392 of 1971, for the recovery of the same.

(2.) The suit was contested by the defendants who filed a joint written statement stating that the sum of Rupees 1,000/- representing the unpaid consideration was not payable as the plaintiff failed to perform his obligations under the sale agreement. In regard to the claim on the agreements it was said that the Court had no jurisdiction to try the suit and further the claim was untenable being based on a contract which was not registered as required in law.

(3.) The learned trial Judge on a trial on evidence held against the plaintiff in so far as the claim for Rs. 1,000/-was concerned. In regard to the other claim, it was held that the Court had jurisdiction to try the suit and the plaintiff was entitled to the amount as claimed. The suit was decreed in part for Rs. 2,450/- on contest with proportionate costs.