Ebrahim Haji Yakub vs Chunilal Lalchand Kabre

Basil Scott, C.J.—It is admitted that the defendant No. 1, by an order of the Court made in an administration suit, is the manager of the property of Haji Usman Haji Oomar who died in or about March 1903.

The plaintiffs'' firm had dealings with Haji Usman''s firm at Malegaon. The business of that firm, according to the finding of the lower Court, was, during the lifetime of Haji Usman, carried on by a gumasta named Khanderao.

The suit was instituted by the plaintiffs on the 30th of May 1906 by presenting the plaint to the officer of the Court at Ahmednagar. In order that the plaintiffs may not be met by a bar of limitation they have to show that there was some acknowledgment binding upon the estate given u/s 19 of the Limitation Act within the three years anterior to the 30th of May 1906. The acknowledgment relied upon for this purpose is dated 2nd of June 1903. It is in the shape of a post-card addressed to the plaintiffs by the gumasta Khanderao from Malegaon in the name of Haji Usman Haji Oumar in which no reference is made to the death of the latter. It purports to be an answer to a letter from the plaintiffs relating to their account and concludes by saying " You mention that there are moneys due; as to that I admit whatever may be found on proper accounts to be owing by me; you need not entertain any anxiety."

The learned Judge of the lower appellate Court has held that there was no reason to suppose that the plaintiffs at this time knew that Khanderao''s authority had terminated by the death of Haji Usmaa, and it is not alleged that they had notice of his death at that time, assuming the authority of the writer of the letter to give acknowledgment had terminated.

It appears from the decision of the Privy Council in . . Maniram Seth. v. Seth Rupchand ILR (1906) Cal 1647; 8 Bom. L.R. 501 that an acknowledgment in terms such as we have referred to would be an acknowledgment within the meaning of Section 19.

The question then is whether the gumasta Khanderao, who was in charge of the business on the 2nd of June 1963, could bind the estate of Haji Usman who died two months previously.