Civil Appeal No 366 of 1979
Appeal by Special Leave from the Judgment and Order dated 28 2 1978 of the Madhya Pradesh High Court Indore Bench in Civil Revision No 93 of 1976
Shanker Ghosh and section K Gambhir for the Appellant
R K Garg and A K Sanghi for Respondent No 1
The Judgment of the Court was delivered by UNTWALIA J
This appeal by special leave is from the judgment of the Madhya Pradesh High Court reversing the decision of the Second Additional District Judge Indore in Miscellaneous Judicial Case No 23 of 1975
The appellant company had filed that case under Order 9 Rule 13 of the Code of Civil Procedure hereinafter called the Code for setting aside an ex parte decree for Rs 28479 passed in favour of the respondent firm on 22 4 1975 against the appellant
The learned Additional District Judge held that summons in the suit was not duly served on the company and it came to know about the decree on 29 7 1975
Hence he set aside the ex parte decree
The respondent firm filed a revision in the High Court under section 115 of the Code
The High Court allowed the revision set aside the judgment of the Trial Court and upheld the passing of the ex parte decree
Hence this appeal
The respondent filed the suit at Indore on 24 2 1975 against the appellant claiming damages to the tune of Rs 26000 on account of the alleged non delivery of certain goods
Summons in the suit was sent to the registered office of the company in Calcutta and is said to have been served on one Shri Navlakha on 17 3 1975 asking the company to appear at Indore on 25 3 1975 for settlement of issues
Since the company did not appear in the Court on that date eventually 1030 the ex parte decree was passed on 22 4 1975
According to the case of the appellant the company came to know about the ex parte decree for the first time when its constituted attorney Shri section K Jhunjhunwala received a notice from the respondent by registered post demanding the decretal dues
Thereupon Shri N section Pareek the Works Secretary of the company who is in charge of the legal matters was sent to Indore to ascertain as to how the ex parte decree came to be passed
Pareek learnt that the summons purported to have been served on Navlakha on 17 3 1975
Navlakha was mere Office Assistant in the Sales Department of the company
He was neither a Secretary nor a Director nor any other Principal Officer of the company authorised to receive summons in the suit
He did not bring the fact of the receipt of summons by him to the knowledge of any responsible officer of the company
The company remained in dark and as stated above learnt for the first time on 29 7 1975 about the passing of the ex parte decree
N section Pareek was the only witness examined on behalf of the appellant in the Miscellaneous case tried by the learned Additional District Judge
No witness was examined on behalf of the respondent
The Trial Court held I hold that handing over of summons to Navlakha who was only an Office Assistant working in the company and who was not an officer duly authorised to accept summons on behalf of the company did not amount to valid service of summons on the applicant company
 It also accepted the appellant s case about the knowledge of the ex parte decree for the first time on 29 7 1975 and hence the application filed is about a week s time thereafter was held to be within time
The High Court in its impugned judgment has held It is not in dispute that the person who received the summons in the office of the Company is not a person who is entitled to be served on behalf of the company in accordance with sub clause a of Rule 2 of Order 29 of CPC The High Court however took the view that since Navlakha was an employee of the company sitting in its registered office in Calcutta the summons will be deemed to have been duly served on the company within the meaning of the first part of clause b of Order 29 Rule 2 of the Code
In the opinion of the High Court since the learned Additional District Judge did not apply his mind to the provision of law contained in clause b it committed a material irregularity and illegality in exercise of its jurisdiction in setting aside the ex parte decree
1031 In our opinion the High Court was clearly wrong in upsetting the judgment of the Trial Court
There was no error in that judgment much less any error of jurisdiction entitling the High Court to interfere with it
Order 29 of the Code is headed Suits by or against Corporations
There are only three Rules in it
We are concerned with Rule 2 which reads as follows Subject to any statutory provision of process where the suit is against a corporation the summons may be served a on the secretary or on any director or other principal officer of the corporation or b by leaving it or sending it by post addressed to the corporation at the registered office or if there is no registered office then at the place where the corporation carries on business Rule 2 is not an exhaustive provision providing for all modes of service on the company in the sense as to what is meant by service of summons on the Secretary Director or Principal Officer in Jute and Gunny Brokers Ltd and another vs The Union of India and others it was held that the words Principal Officer in clause a of Rule 2 would include managing agents and it can under this rule be on a juristic person
Accordingly service on managing agents who are a corporation is valid under clause a
The meaning of clause b has got to be understood in the background of the provisions of the Code in Order 5 which is meant for issue and service of summons on natural persons
Sending a summons by post to the registered office of the company unless the contrary is shown will be presumed to be service on the company itself
But the first part of clause b has got to be understood with reference to the other provisions of the Code
In Rule 17 of Order 5 it has been provided Where the defendant or his agent or such other person as aforesaid refuses to sign the acknowledgement or where the serving officer after using all due and reasonable diligence cannot find the defendant and there is no agent empowered to accept service of the summons on his behalf nor any other person on whom service can be made the serving officer shall affix a copy of the summons on the outer door or some other conspicuous part of the house in which the defendant ordinarily resides or carries on business or personally works for gain 1032 and shall then return the original to the Court from which it was issued with a report endorsed thereon or annexed thereto stating that he has so affixed the copy the circumstances under which he did so and the name and address of the person if any by whom the house was identified and in whose presence the copy was affixed
 Sending summons to a corporation by post addressed to it at its registered office may be a good mode of service either by itself or preferably by way of an additional mode of service
But leaving the summons at the registered office of the corporation if it is literally interpreted to say that the summons can be left anywhere uncared for in the registered office of the company then it will lead to anomalous and absurd results
It has to be read in the background of the provision contained in Order 5 Rule 17 of the Code
In other words if the serving peon or bailiff is not able to serve the summons on the Secretary or any Director or any other Principal Officer of the Corporation because either he refuses to sign the summons or is not to be found by the serving person even after due diligence then he can leave the summons at the registered office of the company and make a report to that effect
In the instant case nothing of the kind was done
It was not the case of the respondent in its rejoinder filed in the Miscellaneous case that the service of the summons as effected in accordance with the first part of clause b of Rule 2 of Order 29 of the Code
Annexure A to the counter affidavit filed by the respondent is the petition filed by the appellant under Order 9 Rule 13 of the Code
In paragraph 9 of the said petition it was stated Inspection of record of this Hon ble Court relating to the service of the summons reveals that the bailiff of the Small Cause Court at Calcutta seems to have delivered a copy of the summons to a gentleman who is described as an office assistant on 17 3 1975 at about 1240 PM
No office assistant of the defendant No 1 Company is empowered or authorised to receive summons
The original summons which has been returned by the bailiff to this Hon ble Court has been signed by one Shri Nawlakha
Shri Nawlakha was concerned merely with sales and had nothing to do with legal matters generally or with receiving summons in particular
Service of the summons on Shri Nawlakha cannot be regarded as due service on the defendant No 1 for the purpose of Order 9 Rule 13 CPC The rejoinder of the respondent is Annexure B to the counter affidavit
Para 9 of the rejoinder which is in reply to para 9 of the petition reads as follows 1033 In reply to para 9 it is stated that the summons was duly served as stated in this para
But it is denied that Shri Nawlakha was concerned merely with sales and has nothing to do with legal matters generally or with receiving summons in particular
It is denied that service on Shri Nawlakha cannot be regarded as due service on the Company Defendant No 1 for the purpose of Order 9 Rule 13 CPC Shri Nawlakha was a responsible officer who could have intimated the receipt of the summons to his so called bosses
Without prejudice it is submitted that the Madhya Pradesh amendment in Order 9 Rule 13 CPC may kindly be perused
 No where in the rejoinder a stand was taken that the summons was duly served on the company because it was left at the registered office of the company
Reference to the Madhya Pradesh amendment of Order 9 Rule 13 is immaterial as the Trial Court has pointed out that the company had no knowledge of the ex parte decree even otherwise before 29 7 1975
No contrary finding has been recorded by the High Court
We therefore hold that the judgment by the Trial Court setting aside the decree was correct
In any event no error of jurisdiction was committed by it
The High Court went wrong in interfering with it
We accordingly allow the appeal set aside the judgment of the High Court and restore that of the Trial Court
The suit shall now proceed to disposal in accordance with the law
We may however make it clear that the appellant under the orders of the Court had furnished bank guarantee for the decretal amount
It has agreed to continue the same till the disposal of the suit
We shall make no order as to costs
SR Appeal allowed


Summary:
The respondent filed a suit at Indore on 24 2 1975 against the appellant claiming damages to the tune of Rs 26000 on account of the alleged nondelivery of certain goods
Summons in the suit was sent to the registered office of the company in Calcutta and was served on Sri Navlakha on 17 3 1975 asking the company to appear at Indore on 25 3 1975
Since the company did not appear in the Court on that date eventually the exparte decree was passed on 22 4 1975
The appellant company came to know about the ex parte decree for the first time when its constituted attorney Sri Jhunjhunwala received a notice from the respondent by registered post demanding the decretal dues
Thereupon Sri N section Pareek the Works Secretary of the company who is in charge of the legal matters was sent to Indore to ascertain as to how the ex parte decree came to be passed
Pareek learnt that the summons was purported to have been served on Navalakha on 17 3 75
Navalakha did not bring the fact of the receipt of summons by him to the knowledge of any responsible officer of the company
He was neither secretary nor a Director nor any other principal officer of the company authorised to receive summons in the suit
The company remained in dark and learnt for the first time on 29 7 75 about the passing of the ex parte decree
The Trial Court allowed the application but the High Court in revision under section 115 of CPC restored the ex parte order
Hence the appeal by special leave
Allowing the appeal the Court  HELD 1Rule 2 of Order XXIX of CPC is not an exhaustive provision providing for all modes of service on the Company in the sense as to what is meant by service of summons on the Secretary Director or Principal Officer
Service on managing agents who are a corporation is valid under clause a of Rule 2 of Order XXIX CPC since a Principal Officer in clause a of Rule 2 has been held to include managing agents and it can under this rule be on a juristic person
1031 D E Jute and Guuny Brokers Ltd  Anr
vs Union of India and Ors
1961 3 SCR p 20 followed
2Sending a summon to a corporation by post addressed to it at its registered office may be a good mode of service either by itself or preferably by way of an additional mode of service
But leaving the summons at the registered office of the corporation if it is literally interpreted to say that the summons can be left anywhere uncared for in the registered office of the company
then it will lead to anomalous and absurd results
It has to be read in the background of provision contained in Order 5 Rule 17 of the Code
In other 1029 words if the serving peon or bailiff is not able to serve the summons on the Secretary or any Director or any other Principal Officer of the Corporation because either he refuses to sign the summons or is not to be found by the serving person even after due diligence then he can leave the summons at the registered office of the company and make a report to that effect
In the instant case nothing of the kind was done
It was also not the case of the respondent in its rejoinder filed in the Miscellaneous case that the service of the summons was effected in accordance with the first part of clause b of Rule 2 of Order 29 of the Code
1032 B D 3
Nowhere in the rejoinder a stand was taken by the respondents that the summons was duly served on the company because it was left at the registered office of the company
The company had no knowledge of the ex parte decree even otherwise before 29 7 75
Hence the application under OIX Rule 13 of CPC has been correctly allowed
1033 C D