Siddi Subba Rao v. Pukhraj Kocher Ginning and Pressing Factory Firm carrying on business at Chanda, Central Provinces
1952-01-18
PANCHAPAKESA AYYAR
body1952
DigiLaw.ai
Judgment.- There are no merits at all in this Civil Revision Petition as no part of the cause of action in the petitioner’s suit for damages arose in this State. The point for consideration is whether both the Courts below went wrong in holding that the District Munsif’s Court, Peddapuram, had no jurisdiction to entertain the suit for damages filed against the defendants for supplying them fifty bales of inferior cotton, said to differ much from the sample cotton shown to them before the sale. The contract was admittedly, entered into at Chanda, in Madhya Pradesh, on 25th July, 1943, and the District Munsif’s Court, Peddapuram, would have, of course, no jurisdiction, if no part of the transaction arose within its own limits. Both the Courts below held that the delivery of the cotton was to be at Chanda and that the price also was to be paid there, judging from the correspondence. Mr. P.M. Srinivasa Aiyangar, for the petitioners-plaintiffs, urged that both the lower Courts went wrong in holding that the District Munsif’s Court, Pedda- puram, had no jurisdiction, as it was a sale by sample, and the 50 bales of cotton, sold as per sample, were to be despatched by the vendors, the defendants, from Chanda to Pittapuram (via) Waltair, and were received at Waltair and carted to Pittapuram and examined only there by the plaintiffs. If that had been so, no doubt, both Courts would have been wrong in holding that the suit should have been filed only in Madhya Pradesh, as it could have been filed also at Peddapuram. But the lower Courts have not gone on that footing, but on the footing that the sale was not merely by sample but after showing the 50 bales of cotton, the specific goods as per sample, at Chanda itself, to P.W. 2, the plaintiffs’ agent who examined it and bought it. So, it is a case of sample being shown first, and the specific goods next, not at all an uncommon thing in India. It is a common experience in any shop in India for a buyer to be shown a sample of rice and then a bag of rice said to correspond to it.
So, it is a case of sample being shown first, and the specific goods next, not at all an uncommon thing in India. It is a common experience in any shop in India for a buyer to be shown a sample of rice and then a bag of rice said to correspond to it. It is also possible for the bag shown later on not to correspond with the sample shown earlier though it is shown at that very place and is accepted by the buyer under a misapprehension that it corresponds to the sample. But where specific goods are shown, inspected and bought the cause of action would arise only at the place of sale. See Parthasarathi Gupta v. The Calcutta Glass and Silicate Works, Ltd.1. Paragraph 6 of the judgment of the trial Court shows that the defendant’s contention was that the plaintiffs’ agent, P.W. 2, was shown at Chanda itself the 50 bales of cotton which were sold to the plaintiffs, and that he agreed to buy that cotton at Rs. 180 per bale, and that new Chandabani cotton was selling at Rs. 400 per bale at that very time. Whether the plaintiff’s agent, P.W. 2, was deceived into believing that the 50 bales of cotton shown to him at Chanda and bought by him was of the same quality as the sample shown to him prior to his being shown the bulk, or not, need not be discussed here. For the purpose of jurisdiction, even if he was so deceived, the suit ought to be filed only in Madhya Pradesh, where he saw that articles in bulk and bought them, though the bales were subsequently despatched to Waltair for taking them by cart to Pittapuram, and though the alleged fraud was actually discovered only on inspection at Pittapuram. Mr. Rangachari, for the defendants, urges that they were got despatched to Waltair only at the instance of P.W. 2, who had been shown the fifty bales and had accepted them on behalf of the plaintiffs, and that the showing of the sample before is immaterial, and that the ruling in J.S. Malu v. Haji Ibrahim Kassaim Uplitwala2, will not apply. I agree. Mr.
I agree. Mr. P.M. Srinivasa Iyengar says that it would be very difficult for anybody to inspect the quality of pressed cotton kept in bales, and that for that reason because there was no good chance of reasonable inspection for P.W. 2, Pittapuram, where the bales were ultimately received and opened and examined and found to be of inferior quality, would be the place where part of the cause of action arose, as a reasonable inspection could be had only there, and so the suit could be filed in the District Munsif Court, Peddapuram. I cannot agree. In modern times of complicated machinery and manufacture, it is not reasonable to expect that all articles sold or bought would be in their elementary process or stages, and buyers, are expected to be competent enough to deal with articles in various stages of manufacture or processing and judge their quality before buying. Thus, a man buying a car need not have the engine and other parts dis-membered and shown to him, and pressed cotton bales need not be unpressed and shown to him. If he chooses to buy the things after seeing them, the suit will only lie at that place. P.W. 2’s inexperience or folly or gullibility cannot change the jurisdiction. Where the specific articles purchased have been shown to the purchaser at the place of contract, as here to P.W. 2, the jurisdiction will only be in the Courts of that place, and not in Courts in the place to which the articles may be subsequently consigned, at the instance of the buyer. So, the Courts below were right. In this view, this petition deserves to be and is hereby dismissed with costs. Time given to the plaintiffs till the 1st of March, 1952, for presenting the plaint to the proper Court. K.C. -------- Petition dismissed.