- (1.) This appeal, by certificate, is directed against a judgment and decree of the High Court of Jammu and Kashmir where a Division Bench of the High Court allowed an appeal filed by the State of Jammu and Kashmir from decree for recovery of money in favour of the plaintiff appellant.
(2.) The appeal was originally disposed of ex parte as the respondents did not appeal before this Court to contest the appeal Subsequently, on the motion of the respondents the decree was set aside. This is how the appeal has come up for hearing again.
(3.) The facts of the case lie in a short compass The appellant offered to supply milk to the S.M.H.S. Hospital, Srinagar, in pursuance to a tender notice issued by the Superintendent of the Hospital at the rate of Rs. 15.90 per maund. The offer was accepted on March 20, 1961, an i the agreement was for supply of milk from April 1, 1961, to March 31, 1962. A formal contract recording the agreement between the parties was drawn up on May 17, 1961. One of the conditions in the agreement was that if milk became a controlled article during the period of the agreement, the contractor shall be paid at the controlled rate for the supply of the articles made by him. This is practically the same as Paragraph 12 of the tender notice. In pursuance to the agreement, the appellant supplied milk to the hospital during the period of the agreement. The price of milk was controlled by virtue of a notification issued on May 2, 1961, and this control remaited in force till the end of the contract period, namely, March 31, 1962. The case of the appellant was that although he agreed to supply milk at the rate of Rs. 15.90 per maund, as the controlled price was Rs. 25/- per maund, he was entitled to be paid at this rate after the date of the notification controlling the price. He therefore, claimed price of milk at the rate of Rs. 25/- per maund from May 2, 1961, to the end of the March, 1962, and filed the suit.;