JAICHAND LAL Vs. FIRM KESRICHAND BHANWARLAL

JUDGEMENT

(1.) FOLLOWING a decision of this Court in Manna Lal v. Paney Chand, ILR (1959) 9 raj 62 : (AIR 1959 Raj 166) the learned Senior Civil Judge, Ganganagar, has returned the plaint in the present case for presentation to the proper court.

(2.) THE suit was filed by the present appellant for recovery of Rs. 29,940/-for price of parts of machinery supplied by him to the defendants at Calcutta on 15th April, 1956. Defendant No. 2 is the father, defendants Nos. 3 and 4 are his sons, and it was alleged in the plaint that they were all members of a joint Hindu family and carried on their business in the name of firm Kesrichand Bhanwarlal at Rajbiraj, a, place within the State of Nepal. Firm Kesrichand Bhanwarlal of Rajbiraj was also impleaded as defendant No. 1 in the suit. In the plaint, defendants Nos. 2, 3 and 4 were described as residents of Nohar within the district of Ganganagar and that is why the suit was filed at Ganganagar. Defendants filed their written statement and objected to the jurisdiction of the court on the ground that they were not actually and voluntarily residing at Nohar, but for the last thirty to forty years had been carrying on their business and permanently residing at Rajbiraj. Along with the plea about jurisdiction the defendants raised other pleas also on the merits of the case as well in the written statement.

(3.) THE learned Senior Civil Judge framed issues on the whole case and one of them related to the question of jurisdiction. The issue regarding jurisdiction was tried as a preliminary issue and the learned Judge, after recording the evidence of the parties on this issue and hearing them, ordered the return of the plaint for presentation to the proper court. On facts, the learned Judge found that the defendants had their ancestral home at Nohar. He also found that they had constructed a house at a huge cost of Rs. 50,000/- to Rs. 60,000/-and performed their marriages at Nohar. He further found that for the treatment of one of their female members they had gone to Bikaner Zenana Hospital and that their names were entered in the electoral rolls of Nohar Municipality. However, as in his opinion the above mentioned decision applied to the facts of this case, he passed the order under appeal.