THE DELHI CLOTH AND GENERAL MILLS CO., LTD. versus HARNAM SINGH AND OTHERS.

Citation: [1955] 2 S.C.R. 402 · Decided: 21-04-1955 · Supreme Court of India · Bench: VIVIAN BOSE · Disposal: Appeal(s) allowed

Cited by 1 judgment(s) · see the full citation network in Lexace

Judgment (excerpt)

1955 
Om Prakash Gu1ta 
v. 
Tlie Stale of Ufla, 
Prtkhsh 
Imam]. 
1955 
April 21 
SUPREME OOURT REPORTS 
[1955) 
dismissal and that he has been paid subsistence allow-
ance for the entire period. Such . subsistence allow-
ance as has been paid to the appellant from the 25th 
of November, 1944, to the 31st December, 1947, inclu-
sive, 
must, 
thertfore, 
be credited to the respondent 
and 
the same must be adjusted 
against the salary 
claimed by the appellant. 
A decree will accordingly 
be prepared stating the amount recoverable by the 
appellant. 
The appellant was permitted to appeal in 
forma 
pauperis. 
As he has succeeded in the appeal, the 
Registrar shall calculate the amount of court fee which 
would have been paid by the appellant ;f he had not 
been allowed to appeal as a pauper and incorporate 
it in the decree. 
The court fee shall be paid by the 
appellant and the same will be recoverable by the 
Government of India from him and shall be the first 
charge on the amount decreed to him. 
Under Rule 7 
of Order XIV of the Rules of this Court, the appel-
lant will be allowed the fees paid by him to his Advo-
cates, in the taxation of costs. 
THE DELHI CLOTH AND GENERAL MILLS 
CO., LTD. 
ti. 
HARNAM SINGH AND OTHERS. 
(VMAN BosE, JAGANNADHADAS and BHUVANESHWAR 
PRASAD SINHA, JJ.) 
Priv11te International Law-Law applic11ble to contractual obli-
gations-English and Continental schools of thought-Lex situs and 
uProper I.Au/' of contract-Partition of India-Post partition debt 
-Action for recovery where lies-Analogy of banking transactions and 
insurance claims-Place of primary obligatio11-Debt, 
whether pro-
perty-Sections 3 and 130 of Transfer of Property Act-Evacuee pro-
perty laws-Pakistan (Protection of Evacuee Property) 
Ordinance, 
1948 (XV/ll of 1948)-Pakistan (Administration of Evacuee Pro· 
perty) Ordinance (XV) 1949-Whether confiscatory in nature 
During the years 
in question cloth was rationed at Lyallpur, 
then a part of the Punjab in undivided T ndia, ·and sales could only 
be made to government nominees and other authorised persons. The 
plaintiffs rcsii!cnt in Lyallpur, were the government nominees. The 
2S.C.R. 
SUPREME" COURT REPORTS 
40.3 
defendant company with its. head office at . Delhi, had a branch 
office and mills at Lyallpur, and supplied the plaintiffs with cloth 
from time to time in accordance with the government quota through 
its branch manager at Lyallpur. Their dealings lasted some 4 or 5 
years prior to 1947. 
In. accordance with their ~ontract the plaintiffs left a security 
deposit of Rs. 1,000 with the defendant's branch manager at Lyallpu1, 
aud deposited further sums of money with him from time to time at 
Lyallpur. The defendant supplied the plaintiffs with their quota of 
doth against those deposits. 
There was thus a running account 
between the parties in which the balance was sometimes in the 
plaintiffs' favour and sometimes 
against them; when against, they 
paid the defendant interest on the "overdraft". The goods had to 
be supplied at Lyallpur and all moneys were paid there. The ac.· 
counts 
were kept at 
Lyallpur though copies were sent 
to the 
defendant's head office at Delhi. 
In 1947, when India was partitic.ned, Lyallpur was assigned to 
Paki~tan. The plaintiffs thereupon 
Red the country and entered 
India as refugees. They settled in Delhi and thus became "evacuees" 
according to a Pakistan ordinance. At that time there was a balance 
of Rs. 11,496-6-6 in the plaintiffs favour. They accordingly made a 
demand at Delhi for repayment of this sum and for return of their 
security deposit. 
In the meanwhile the Pakistan Government issued an Ordinance 
(1) vesting all evacuee property in the Custodian of Evacuee Pro-
perty in Pakistan ; (2) prohibiting the payment of money to eva-
cuees; and (3) requiring 
all moneys payable 
to, or claimable by, 
evacuees to be paid to the Deputy Custodian of Evacuee Property in 
Pakistan. Payments so made were 
to operate as a discharge from 
further liability to the extent of the payment. Breach of this law 
was punishable as an offence. 
The Deputy Custodian demanded payment from the defendant 
of the moneys owing to the plaintiff. After some 
correspondence 
and demur, the payment was 
made 
as required. The- defendant 
pleaded this as a defence to the action. 
1I dd : (I) Lyallpur was the place of primary obligation because 
under the contract the balance remaining at its termination was to 
be paid there and not else

Excerpt shown. Read the full judgment & AI analysis in Lexace.