ALI ASMAT SHAKUR Vs. GIPRY

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This is a plaintiff's appeal under the following circumstances. Firm Ishwar Das and Company, sent to the firm Ali Asmat Shakur in the district of Azamgarh certain artificial silk goods which was carried over the G.I.P. Ry., E.I.R. and B. and N.W. Rail-ways. The goods were not delivered and the plaintiff instituted a suit for recovery of the price of the goods on the ground of "non-delivery."

(2.) Various defences were raised on behalf of the three railways, but we are now concerned only with the defence of the Secretary of State for India in Council, as admittedly the G.I.P. Railway and the E.I. Railway are owned by the Secretary of State for India in Council. The suit was dismissed by the trial Court on the ground that the plaintiff not having served a notice which com plied with the provisions of Section 80, Civil P. C, the suit was not maintainable. The decree of the trial Court was confirmed by the Additional Subordinate Judge on appeal. The plaintiff has come up in appeal to this Court.

(3.) The learned advocate for the plaintiff has submitted that no notice under Section 80, Civil P. C, was necessary in this case, and even if such a notice was necessary the fact that the plaintiff had made a claim to the Agent of the G.I.P. Railway within six months as provided by Section 77, Railways Act, that notice must be deemed to be one as under Section 80, Civil P.C.