BAL RAJARAM PADVAL Vs. MANEKLAL MANSUKHBHAI

JUDGEMENT

(1.) These are two appeals from a preliminary decree passed by Mr. Sanjana, Joint Judge of Thana, and a final decree passed by the same Judge as District Judge of Thana in suit No. 7 of 1927 brought by the plaintiff to recover the principal and interest on a mortgage deed, Exhibit 42, passed by defendant No. 1 Rajaram Tukaram, his wife Lakshmibai, defendant No. 2, and by defendant No. 1 as guardian of his two sons Bal and Chimu, defendants Nos. 3 and 4.

(2.) Defendant No. 1 Rajaram carried on large import business in saffron, piece- goods and other commodities in the name of S. Narayan & Co. S. Narayan & Co. was an old firm and had four partners, Defendant No. 1 Rajaram's father Tukaram Tataya, one of the partners, had six and a half annas share. At the end of 1897 Tukaram Tatya left the company and Rajaram, defendant No. 1, became a partner the next day with a share of two annas and a half, Out of a large balance standing to the credit of Tukaram Tatya, As. 25,000 were transferred to the new account opened in the name of Rajaram as his capital, In 1899 Tukaram Tatya died, and Rajaram separated from his only brother, soon afterwards. Rajaram continued to be one of the partners of S. Narayan & Co. and bought off the other partners, and from 1914 continued as the sole owner of the firm. Bal, the eldest of his son, is stated in the judgment of the lower Court to have been burn in 1918, but according to the appellant he was born on June 22, 1914. On April 23, 1923, the mortgage in suit, Exhibit 42, was passed by Rajaram, defendant No. 1, for himself and as guardian of his two minor sons Bal and Chimu, defendants Nos. 3 and 4, then stated to be six and two years of age, and by his wife Lakshmibai, defendant No. 2. It is not clear why Lakshmibai was joined as a party to the mortgage.

(3.) The recital in the mortgage-deed as to the purpose of borrowing the loan is as follows:- Whereas the said Rajuram Tukaram is carrying on business in the name of S. Narayan and Co. and the said business has been and is being carried on by him with ancestral funds on behalf of the joint and undivided family consisting of himself and his wife and his sons, the said Bal and Chimu both minors aged (6) and (2) years, and whereas in the coarse of the said business of S. Narayan and Co. the said Rajaram Tukaram as the manager of the said joint family has become indebted to several banks in Bombay on account of a heavy fall in the price of goods imported by the firm resulting in the constituents of the firm of S. Narayan and Co. refusing to take delivery, and it has become necessary to raise immediately a sum of rupees two lacs to pay off these banks who hold large stock of goods of the said firm of S. Narayan and Co. against accepted bills which they are threatening to sell involving the firm in heavy losses....