SIMLA BANKING AND INDUSTRIAL CO LTD Vs. PRITAMS

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This appeal under clause 10 of the Letters Patent raises a question upon the interpretation of S. 17 of the Displaced Persons (Debts Adjustment) Act, 1951.

(2.) On 1-3-1947, Mr. B. L. Raikhi proprietor of M/s. Pritams, Anarkali Lahore, executed a pronote in a sum of Rs. 20,000/- in favour of the Simla Banking and Industrial Company Limited, Lahore. Simultaneously with this he executed a letter by virtue of which he pledged his entire stock-in-trade with the Bank.

(3.) Shortly after the partition of the country Mr. Raikhi migrated to India. On 12-7-1948 he appeared in the Branch of the Bank at Delhi and stated that he had been able to retrieve a portion of the stock-in-trade from Lahore and that he was prepared to hypothecate the same with the Bank in lieu of a sum of Rs. 20,000/-which was still due from him. The Bank accepted the offer and he accordingly executed various documents, among others being a pronote in a sum of Rs. 20,000/- a letter of continuity hypothecating the goods which had been retrieved by him from Lahore and a balance confirmation slip admitting the balance due from him as Rs. 20,074/14/-. He also addressed a communication to the Bank in which he stated that he was about to shift the goods hypothecated by him from Ludhiana to New Delhi.