PREM NATH Vs. KAUDOOMAL RIKHIRAM

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This is an appeal under Clause 10 of the Letters Patent and is directed against the judgment of a learned Single Judge of this Court dated 1-11-1957 maintaining the order of the Tribunal constituted under the Displaced Persons (Debts Adjustment) Act No. LXX to 1951 dismissing the appellants' application under Section 13 of the Displaced Persons (Debts Adjustment) Act.

(2.) Before dealing with the merits, two preliminary objections raised on behalf of the respondents by Shri Shamair Chand have to be disposed of. The counsel has in the first instance urged that the present appeal has abated because Rikhi Ram, one of the respondents, died on 10-1-1960 and the application for bringing on record his legal representatives was filed in this Court on 5-5-1960. According to the counsel this petition is barred by time and no sufficient reason having been shown for setting aside the abatement, the present appeal should be held to have abated and, therefore, be dismissed on that ground. The fact that Rikhi Ram actually died on 10-1-1960 is not disputed. It is also clear that an application under O. 22 R. 4 read with Section 151, Code of Civil Procedure, was filed in this Court on 5-5-1960. On the same day, an application under Section 5 of the Indian Limitation Act for condoning the delay in making the application under O. 22 R. 4, Code of Civil Procedure, was presented to this Court. In the affidavit accompanying this application it is stated that Prem Nath deponent came to know of Rikhi Ram's death only on 2-5-1960 when he was brought to Chandigarh. On learning of the death he sent his son Vijay Nath to Gurdaspur to make enquiries, about the legal representatives of the deceased. From 14-10-1959 to 2-5-1960, the deponent was in Delhi undergoing treatment by a Heart Specialist (Prof. S. B. Roy of the All India Institute of Medical Science, New Delhi) because he had at attack of coronery thrombosis. As he had been suffering from this desease, he could not be aware of Rikhi Ram's death. The deponent, according to this affidavit, was unable to travel on account of the ailment mentioned above.

(3.) Shri Shamair Chand has made a reference to the affidavit filed by Sardari Lal Respondent but that affidavit in no way militates against the assertions made in Prem Nath's affidavit. I may, however, mention that Prem Nath actually died as a result of his heart trouble on 16-4-1961.