SESHA AIYAR Vs. KRISHNA AIYAR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This reference has been made upon a Civil Revision Petition in which the petitioner was third defendant in a suit brought by plaintiffs respondents to recover money paid as subscriptions to a prize kuri. The third defendant and the other defendants promoted this kuri for the purpose of raising funds for a temple.

(2.) The plaint alleges that the first plaintiff took two tickets in the kuri, and had paid Rs. 270 representing 45 monthly payments on his two tickets. It states that the scheme was that the kuri was to be conducted for 50 months and that those subscribers who had not been so fortunate as to draw a prize were, at the close of the kuri after the 50 drawing, to be refunded the amount of the money subscribed by them. There is the further allegation that the kuri came to an end after payment of the 45 instalments, and that despite the plaintiff's demand for a refund of his subscriptions no repayment has been made by defendants. The sum claimed is Rs. 270 which is the amount of 45 instalments paid by the first plaintiff on his two tickets. The material defence to the claim, so far as this reference is concerned, is in para 3 of the written statement, where the plea is raised that the agreement between the parties being in respect of a lottery unauthorised by Government, was for an illegal object, and was therefore unenforceable at law.

(3.) The lower Court held the defendants liable to refund the money. Hence the Revision Petition. The question has been referred to a Full Bench as there are decisions of this High Court on the status of Kuris which are not always easy to reconcile.