Bhawanilal vs Madanlal

P.R. Sharma, J.—This revision application arises out of a suit for recovery of the balance due on an account stated.

The accounts between the Plaintiffs and the Defendants were settled on 1-2-1956 and the balance of a sum of Rs. 782-9-9 was struck. The Defendant Shyamsunder signed the balance and made an endorsement as follows:

Both lower Courts have held this Khata entry to be an acknowledgment, which being unstamped was held to be inadmissible in evidence; with the result that the Plaintiffs'' suit was dismissed.

In the case of Pemsingh v. Gajrabal 1959 JLJ 62 the Defendant while signing the Khata entry in the Plaintiff''s account-book stated

. These words were held to mean that the persons signing the entry admitted the balance to be re-payable by them. The word

it was held meant ''repayable'' and not merely a ''debt''. In Daulatram v. Ata-Mohommad AIR 1938 Lah. 503, the entry in the ''Bahi Khata'' contained the words

.

It was held that these words amounted to an agreement to pay. In Bhansarlal v. Navalki-shore, 1957 JLJ 954 a Division Bench of this Court held that the words

implied an express promise to pay.

In the present case the entry in the Khara states the sum of Rs. 782-9-9 as balance due

. The Defendant while signing it stated the same amount as

Evidently the Khata entry in the instant case would fall within the rule laid down in the aforesaid decisions and would amount to an express promise to pay. This being the sole ground on which the suit was dismissed, the decree passed by the Courts below is hereby reversed and the Plaintiffs'' claim in suit is decreed with costs throughout.