GOPAL DASS Vs. ROSHAN LAL KAPUR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE question for determination in this appeal is whether the dismissal on ground of limitation of an application filed by a displaced debtor under Section 5 of the Displaced Persons (Debts Adjustment) Act, bars his right to make a similar application under Section 11 (2) of the Act?

(2.) THE appellant, Gopal Dass, filed an application as a debtor under Section 5 of the Displaced Persons (Debts Adjustment) Act, 1951, at Lucknow. This section entitles a displaced person, at any time within one year after the date on which this Act comes into force, to make an application for the adjustment of his debts to the Tribunal. It is not disputed that Gopal Dass had included in this application the debt which he owed to Roshan Lal Kapur. There were three other creditors included in the application presented by Gopal Dass. The application was dismissed by the Tribunal at Lucknow as it was presented beyond the statutory period of one year after the enactment of the Displaced Persons (Debts adjustment) Act. An appeal preferred to the High Court was also dismissed on 22nd of January 1960.

(3.) IN an application made by Roshan Lal Kapur, respondent, for recovery of sum of Rs. 1779/-, against the appellants Gopal Dass and Shiv Kumar under Section 10 of the Act, Gopal Dass made an application under sub-section (2) of Section 11 for adjustment of his debt. Section 10 enables a displaced creditor to prefer a claim against a displaced debtor in an application in which a statement of the debts owed to the creditor with full particulars has to be furnished. The procedure on such an application is prescribed in Section 11 of the Act. Under sub-section (1) of section 11, the Tribunal has to serve a displaced debtor with a notice or the application under Section 10 and the displaced debtor may either show cause, if any, against the application or he may make an application on his own behalf under S. 5. Under sub-section (2), the Tribunal is required to adjudicate upon an application made by a displaced debtor under Section 5 in response to a notice of a displaced creditor's petition under Section 10. Sub-section (3) of Section 11 is important inasmuch as it specifically says that: