JASRAJ Vs. DEVICHAND

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THIS is a first appeal by the plaintiff in a suit for recovery of money.

(2.) ACCORDING to the allegations in the plaint, Veerchand, father of Devichand defendant No. 1, and two others, Siremal and Lekhraj, defendants Nos. 2 and 3, advanced a loan of Rs. 16,000/- to Thakur Simrathsinghji of Harji, and while the bond was got executed in the name of Veerchand alone, he had advanced only one-fourth of the loan, three-fourth being contributed by Siremal and Lekhraj. It was alleged that repayments were made by the debtor from time to time and Veerchand paid to Siremal and Lekhraj their proportionate shares out of the realisations. Later on the estate of the debtor was taken over by Haisiat Court and a claim in respect of the outstanding debt was preferred by defendant No. 1. The Haisiat Court accepted the claim to the extent of Rs. 10,900/3/6 which was increased by Rs. 96/- on appeal to the Court of Wards. The plaintiff alleged that Siremal and Lekhraj, who were entitled to three-fourth share in the said debt, assigned their interest to the plaintiff and he, therefore, became entitled to receive Rs. 8,247/2/9 out of the amount of Rs. 10,996/3/6. It was alleged that a suit for declaration of the plaintiff's right to receive three-fourth of the amount had been filed but the defendant No. 1 meanwhile managed to receive the entire amount of Rs. 10,996/3/6 and the declaratory suit was held to be not maintainable. As the defendant Devichand dishonestly received the entire amount on 14th December 1942 from the Haisiat Court, the plaintiff claimed Rs. 8,247/2/9 as principal, and Rs. 3,252/13/3 as interest by way of damages, raising the total claim to Rs. 11,500/ -. This suit was instituted on the 23rd of November, 1948.

(3.) IN this connection reference may also be made to two other cases Rajendra Nath Mitra vs. Nagendra Kumar Bone (A. I. R. 1927 Calcutta 917), and Kishen Sahai and another vs. Shamlal Badri Parshad (A. I. R. 1929 Lahore 94 ).