FIRM SITARAM AGARWAL Vs. HARNATH

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THIS second appeal is by the plaintiff who has been unsuccessful in both the courts below.

(2.) THE two courts below have not gone into the merits of the controversy regarding the claim for the recovery of money, but have taken the view that the suit is barred under Section 69 (2) of the Partnership Act, As this is the only point for consideration in this second appeal, it is not necessary to state all the facts. It will be sufficient to say that the plaintiff averred in paragraph 1 of the plaint that the plaintiff was a registered partnership firm of which Suraj Bux, Jagdish Narain, nathulal and Sita Ram were the owners. This was denied by both the defendants. Defendant No. 2 pleaded that the plaintiff was an unregistered partnership concern of which Murlidhar and Daluram were also partners. In paragraph 7 of the written statement it was stated that unless the plaintiff could establish that the firm was registered and the names of all its partners including Murlidhar and Daluram were shown as partners, the suit would be barred under Section 69 of the Partnership act. The first issue therefore related to the question whether the plaintiff was a registered partnership firm. It has been admitted in this connection by the plaintiff that the application for registration was made on April 29, 1957 and while the registration fee was fully paid up on May 15, 1957, the actual registration was made by the Registrar of Firms on August 26, 1957. The suit was filed on July 15, 1957. On these admitted facts, both the Courts below have taken the view that the suit is not maintainable on account of the bar of Sub-section (2) of Section 69 of the Partnership Act. The question is whether this view is incorrect?

(3.) IN order to appreciate the controversy, it will be desirable to make a reference to Sections 58, 59 and 69 of the Partnership Act for they are quite sufficient to show the scheme and the purpose of the provisions regarding the registration of firms and the effect of non-registration.