SUKHANAND SHAMLAL Vs. OUDH AND ROHILKHAND RAILWAY

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The preliminary issue I have to decide is whether the present suit is maintainable against the first defendant as framed.

(2.) This is based on the plea raised by defendant No. 1, the Oudh and Rohilkhand Railway, that that railway is owned and worked by Government, and the Secretary of State for India in Council should have been the person against whom the suit should have been instituted. Since this objection was taken, the plaintiffs have amended the title of the suit by substituting for "the Oudh and Rohilkhand Railway" the words "The Oudh and Rohilkhand Railway Administration by its Manager and Agent. Mr. Munshi for plaintiffs contends that the suit is maintainable against the Railway Administration in that form, and that the Secretary of State for India in Council need not be sued.

(3.) The fact that the Railway is a State Railway was eventually admitted by Mr. Munshi, after his attention had been called to the official statement about it in the Imperial Gazetteer of India, Vol. III, p. 399.