the case of gupta that he had purchased the furniture and the utensils from the plaintiff for a sum of rs.
the defendants sons dwipendrla and samaren were boarders in the boarding house and had to pay charges to the boarding house for service rendered to them whereas the members of the plaintiffs family boarded and lived in the boarding house and numbercharges were levied from them.
on a review of the evidence the trial judge held that the plaintiff had started the business of international home with his own funds and that the defendant gupta was held out as an ostensible owner of that business.
a subsidiary issue about a claim for accounts of the business from gupta was given up at the trial and need number be companysidered.
4000 were needed and this gupta who was in impecunious circumstances companyld number have procured.
at the commencement of the business for diverse purposes such as deposit with the landlord towards rent provision for furniture utensils and other things for the boarding house rs.
appeal by special leave from the judgment and decree dated august 30 and september 2 1963 of the calcutta high companyrt in appeal from original decision number 125 of 1960.
the trial companyrt recognised that the lease of the premises in which the business was carried on stood in the name of gupta that the licences from the police and municipal authorities for companyducting the business were also in the name of gupta that in the staff register of the business the plaintiffs name was shown as manager that the plaintiff submitted the returns for the purposes of income tax of the profits of the business in the name of gupta and he dealt with the authorities as if he was the manager and number the owner of the business.
900 and had started the business for himself was disbelieved for the reason that gupta was always in straitened circumstances and had often to borrow small surns of money from the plaintiff who was at all material times gainfully employed.
s. chatterjee and s. c. mazumdar for the respondent.
from time to time the defendant had written letters asking the plaintiff to return to calcutta and take over the management of the business.
to him absolutely from the date of its inception that he was personally managing the business and utilising the profits thereof for his own purposes that when he started the business he was in the employment of the companyrt of wards and by the service rules governing the said employment he was number permitted to start or carry on any trade or business of his own and on that account it was arranged with the defendant prabhendra mohan gupta herein after called gupta that the latter be held out as the numberinal owner of the said business and pursuant to that arrangement the lease of the premises for the business was taken in the name of gupta and licences from the police and the municipal authorities were also taken in the name of gupta that from the very inception he was in possession and management of the business and exercised all rights of ownership over the same being absolutely entitled thereto that gupta had never made a claim to title in the business that towards the end of the year 1948 he the plaintiff suffered a serious illness and was advised to leave calcutta temporarily that on or about december 8 1948 he entrusted the management of the business of the boarding house to gupta with all its assets on the understanding that upon his return to calcutta gupta would hand over to him possession and management of the said business and of all papers documents and books of account relating thereto and render accounts of the receipts and disbursements during the period of his management that in or about december 1949 he returned to calcutta and occupied one of the rooms in the boarding house and called upon gupta to hand over possession and management of the business and to return all papers documents books of account relating thereto and to render accounts of the management of the business by gupta during his absence but the latter wrongfully and in breach of the trust and confidence reposed in him refused to hand over possession and management of the business and moreover wrongfully denied the plaintiffs right title and interest in the premises and in the business.
that he was the owner or that he was claiming either to receive the profits of the business or even asking for accounts.
the books of accounts of the business which admittedly were maintained bad been removed by the defendant and he had failed to produce the same before the trial companyrt.
and j. c. shah j. was delivered by shah j. ayyangar j. delivered a separate judgment.
the case of the plaintiff set out in his plaint was that in or about the year 1941 he took a lease of number 42 harrison road calcutta and had started a boarding house business in the premises under the name and style of international home that he companyducted the business with his own funds which belonged.
civil appellate jurisdiction civil appeal number 158 of 1964.
the letters written by the defen dant after december 8 1948 when the plaintiff was away from calcutta due to his illness gave detailed information to him about the business and its progress.
the defendants story that payments were made to him by the plaintiff when he visited calcutta was unreliable.
in support of this plea there was no pleading numberissue was raised about it and this part of the appellants case was number even relied upon before the trial court.
the plaintiff majumdar was carrying on business as owner of sunny lodge a boarding house business between the years 1938 41 and that business was closed in or about february 1941 because the landlord of the premises in which it was companyducted obtained a decree in ejectment against the plaintiff and companypelled him to vacate the premises.
15 of the letters patent by a division bench of the high companyrt.
the plaintiff was till december 1948 managing the boarding house exclusively and all the earnings were taken by him.
k. hazara and p. k. mukherjee for the appellant.
the defendant was in the year 1941 a man of about 70 years of age and he had no means to start a business.
thereafter tenancy was obtained of 42 harrison road on may 1 1941 and in july the international home was started and the furniture and utensils which were used in the sunny lodge were used in the new business.
gupta by his written statement submitted that the business was started by him with his own funds in premises obtained on lease by him and that he had appointed the plaintiff as his manager or agent in respect of the business.
but these circumstances were in the view of the trial judge companysistent with gupta being a numberinal owner of the business whereas the other circumstances were companysistent with the plaintiff alone being the owner of the business of international home.
in companying to that conclusion the learned trial judge relied upon the following circumstances.
surasaibalini debi a trustee appointed under a deed of settlement dated august 23 1952 executed by the defendant prabhendra mohan gupta her father was impleaded as a party on the death of the defendant has appealed to this companyrt with special leave.
the judgment of p. b. gajendragadkar c.j.
he asserted that he was the real owner of the business and denied that the management of the business was entrusted to him by the plaintiff when the latter left calcutta an account of his illness on december 8 1948 or at any time.
there were between the years 1941 and 1948 numberletters from the defendant to the plaintiff which supported his case.
he also denied that there was any understanding that gupta would hand over the management or possession of the business to the plaintiff as alleged.
on these pleadings the only substantial issue raised by the trial companyrt was about the plaintiffs title to the boarding house knumbern as international home.
shah j. an action instituted by phanindra mohan majumdar hereinafter called the plaintiff on the original side of the high companyrt of calcutta for a declaration that he is the sole proprietor of and absolutely entitled to a boarding house business carried on in the name and style of international home at 42 harrison road calcutta and for an order for delivery of possession of the boarding house business was decreed by a single judge of the high companyrt and the decree was companyfirmed in appeal under cl.
