BALDEV RAJ Vs. MOHAN LAL

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Amendment of the written statement, is it competent after the passing of the preliminary decree for dissolution of partnership and rendition of accounts ? Herein lies the controversy raised.

(2.) What happened here was that after the passing of the preliminary decree on May 8, 1979, the Court ordered the appointment of a Receiver. This was done on June 6, 1980 on the application of the decree -holder Mohan Lal. This order was challenged in appeal by the Defendant Baldev Raj. Baldev Raj died during the pendency of this appeal. After his legal representatives had been impleaded, a compromise is said to have been arrived at between the parties in terms of which, the shop in dispute came to Sonu, the minor son of Baldev Raj. There is on record, a copy of the order of the District Judge, Jalandhar of September 4, 1980, the operative part of which reads as under:

(3.) The Defendants then sought amendment of the written statement seeking thereby to plead the compromise referred to above. The Trial Court disallowed it on the wholly untenable premises that the preliminary decree had become final and thus operated as res judicata between the parties and therefore, no amendment could be allowed which would effect the basis of the preliminary decree or the rights of the Plaintiff Mohan Lal, thereunder.