JWALADUTT R PILLANI Vs. BANSILAL MOTILAL

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This is an issue under Order XXI, Rule 50, of the Civil Procedure Code, as to the liability of one Pillani in respect of a decree passed by myself on February 22, 1926, against the Wadia Woollen Mills Ltd. and Husseinbhai Pillani Wadia & Co. for Rs. 2,00,000 and interest at 8 1/4 per cent, per annum from April 3, 1924. Mr. Pillani disputed his liability on the ground that the liability in respect of which the decree was passed occurred after the date when he had retired from the second defendant firm, and that inasmuch as he had given public notice by advertisement in the Bombay Government Gazette and in four local newspapers, to wit, The Times of India, The Bombay Chronicle, The Bombay Samachar and The Sanj Vartman, he was not liable for the liabilities which the continuing partners incurred after the date of his retirement, For that purpose he relied on Section 264 of the Indian Contract Act. Mr. Justice Taleyarkhan decided this point against Mr, Pillani. The latter now appeals.

(2.) There is another branch of the case altogether as to what in fact was the liability on which the decree of February 22, 1926, was founded, viz., whether it was on a liability which accrued after the date of the dissolution, or whether it was on a liability which accrued before that date. But I will deal with this second question later.

(3.) Turning, then, to Sec. 264 of the Indian Contract Act, it runs :- Persons dealing with a firm will not be affected by a dissolution, of which no public notice has been given, unless they themselves had notice of such dissolution. Now it will be seen that that section does not state affirmatively that if public notice has been given, then persons dealing with a firm will be affected by a dissolution. Counsel for the appellant asks us in effect to hold that this is implied. Counsel for the respondent contends the contrary.