LexGANGA SARAN versus RAM CHARAN RAM GOPAL
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1951 Nov. J, 36 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [1952} GANGA SARAN v. RAM CHARAN RAM GOPAL [HARILAL KANIA C.J., FAZL Au AND MEHR CHAND MAHAJAN JJ.] Indian Contract Act (/ of 1872)', s. 56--Contract for delivery of goods manufactured by particular Mill as soon as they are supplied -Construction of contract-Non-receipt of goods from Mill within time-Whether excuses performance-Doctrine of frustration. The respondents agree to deliver 61 bales of cloth to the appel- lant by the 17th November, 1941. The agreement provided "we shall continue sending the goods as soori as they are prepared to you up to Magsar Badi 15, Sambat 1998...... We shall go on supplying goods to y_ou of the Victoria Mills as soon as they are supplied to us by the said Mills. . . . . . We shall go on delivering the goods to you ...... out ·of the goods noted above which will be pre- pared by the Mill." In a suit for damages for non-delivery of the goods the respondents pleaded that as they had not received the goods from the Victoria Mill~ before the 17th of November, 1941, performance of the contract had become impossible by reason of an event which they could not prevent and the contract had therefore become void under Sec. 56, Indian Contract Act : Held, (i) that, on a proper construction of the contract, delivery of the goods was not made contingc;nt on their being supplied to the respondents by the Victoria Mills. The words "prepared by the Mills" were only a description of the goods to be supplied, and the expressions "as soon as they are prepared" and "as soon as they are supplied to us by the said Mill" simply indi~ cated the 'process of delivery. This was not therefore a case in which the doctrine of frustration of contract could be invoked. (ii) Even apart from the construction of the agreement, as the respondents had not shown that they had placed an order for the goods with the Victoria Mills and yet the Mills had failed to supply, there was a clear breach of contract to deliver and the appellant was entitled to recover damages. l-Iarnaf}drai v. Pragdas (L. R. 15 I.A. 9) and British Nfovietont: News v. London Cinemas [1951] (2 A.E.R. 617) relied on. CIVIL APPELLATE No. 56 of 1951. JuRISDICTION : Civil Appeal Appeal from a judgment and decree of the High Court of Allahabad (Malik and Wali Ullaha JJ.) dated f 14th February 1946, in Appeal No. 240 of 1943 which 1t t ) S.C.R. SUPREME COURT REPORTS 37 arose out of a decree dated 19th January, 1943, of the Court- of the Civil and Sessions Judge, Kanpur, in Original Suit No. 34 of 1942. Ac41iru Ram (P. S. Safeer, with him) for the appellant. S. P. Sinha (K.. N. Aggarwala, with him) for the respondent. 1951. November 1. The Judgement of the Court was delivered by FAzL Au J .-This is an appeal by special leave agaimt a decision of ,the High Court at Allahabad, reversing the decision of the trial court, in a suit instituted by the appellant to recover damages from the respondent-firm for breach of a contract. It appears that between the 10th and 18th April, 1941, · the parties entered into 5 contracts, by which the respondent-firm undertook to supply to the appel- lant 184 bales of cloth of certain specifications manu- factured by the New Victoria Mills, Kanpur, and the Raza Textile Mills, Rampur. Only 99 bales were taken up and there was a dispute about the remaining 85 bales. On the 17th October, 1941, a settlement was arrived at between the parties, and it was agreed that the respondent-firm should deliver to the appellant 61 bales, and that the goods should be delivered by the 17th November, 1941. The actual text of the agreement (exhibit 4) was as follows:- "61 bales as noted below are rto be giiven to you by us. we shall continue sending goods as soon as they are prepared to you upto Magsar Badi 15 Sambat 1998. We shall go on supplying. goods to you of the Victoria Mills as soon as they are supplied · to us by the said Mill. (Specifications of cloth given here). We shall go on delivering the goods to you upto Magsar Badi 15 out of the goods noted above which will be prepared by the Mill." · / 1951 .. Ganga Sarar \'.' Ram Charan-· Ram Gopal~. ' 1951 Ganga Saran v. Ram Charan Ram Gopal. Fazl Ali J. 38 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [1952] As the 61 bales were not supplied, the appellant sent a telegraphic notice to the respondent-firm on 20th November, 1941, to the fol
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