- (1.) This is an appeal by the Defendant, Union of India, against the judgment and decree of A.N. Ray, J, who decreed the suit for the sum of Rs. 1,61,700 in favour of the Plaintiff company with interest and costs.
(2.) The facts of the case briefly are as follows : By a contract in writing dated April 5, 1952, the Appellant, Union of India, purchased and agreed to accept from the Plaintiff 600 bales of B'Twills, each bale containing 300 bags, to be delivered at Calcutta, in three equal monthly instalments during the months of April, May and June, 1952 respectively. The price agreed was at Rs. 217 per hundred bags. By a letter dated May 1, 1952, the Appellant, Union of India, cancelled the said contract, stating the grounds of cancellation as follows: In terms of the contract quoted above, the Mills' Pucca Delivery Orders in respect of the first (April) consignment of the goods numbering 200 bales should have been tendered to this office on 30th April, 1952. You have however failed to deliver the Mills' Pucca Delivery Orders in respect of the first consignment on the due date i.e. 30th April, 1952. You have therefore failed to deliver the first consignment of the goods within the period prescribed for such delivery. You have committed breaches of the said conditions of contract. In exercise of the option contained in the conditions of contract and the other powers contained therein, the said contract is hereby cancelled.
(3.) The Plaintiff company contends and pleads that this cancellation is illegal and wrongful and that the Appellant, Union of India, committed breach of the contract by such wrongful cancellation and repudiation. It may be said here that it is the Plaintiff company's case that it offered the May and June quotas of the goods but the Appellant refused to take them on the ground that it had already cancelled the whole contract. The Plaintiff company claimed damages for the breach of contract assessed at Rs. 1,65,600. The particulars of such damage are given in Annexure 'B' to the plaint which has been proved by the Plaintiff company at the trial. The Plaintiff also served notice under the Interest Act claiming interest and served notice upon the Appellant, Union of India, under Section 80 Code of Civil Procedure. The prayer made in the plaint was for a decree for a sum of Rs. 1,65,600 or alternatively, an enquiry into loss and damage suffered by the Plaintiff and a decree for such sum to be found due on such enquiry.;