Kerala High Court: The present second appeal was filed by the appellant (‘defendant’ in the original suit) against the concurrent findings of the Munsif Court (‘Trial Court’) as confirmed by the II Additional District Court (‘First Appellate Court’). The subordinate courts had passed a decree for recovery of possession and damages in favour of Tata Tea Ltd. (‘Tata Tea’), whose name was changed during the litigation and the defendant contended that the suit was not maintainable as the company was not in existence. A Single Judge Bench of Easwaran S., J., held that a change of name would not affect any rights or obligations of the company, thereby affirming the legality and enforceability of the decree passed in favor of the renamed entity, Tata Global Beverage Holdings (P) Ltd.
Background:
The defendant filed a suit for declaration of title, recovery of possession of building and for damages against Tata Tea. The defendant entered into a license agreement with the company on 24-1-1986, and he was required to renew the license yearly. It was alleged that in May, 2000, there was a default in the license fee and Tata Tea demanded the arrears through letters and lawyer’s notice but when the defendant refused to pay them, a suit was instituted.
The defendant submitted that the assets of Tata Tea were already handed over to the successor company i.e., Tata Global Beverage Holdings (P) Ltd., and that the building was originally leased out to defendant’s father by the Kannan Devan Hills Produce Company. He contended that the suit was not maintainable as Tata Tea was not in existence at the time of institution of the suit.
The Trial Court noted that there was a default in the payment of the license fee and the license agreement was not renewed and held that Tata Tea was entitled for a decree as prayed for. Upon an appeal, the defendant had raised a contention that the suit was not maintainable as per Section 4 of the Munnar Special Tribunal Act, 2010 (‘2010 Act’), but the First Appellate Court confirmed the findings of the Trial Court and dismissed the appeal.
The defendant’s counsel submitted that during the pendency of the suit, the name of Tata Tea was changed to Tata Global Beverages Ltd. and later, during the pendency of this appeal, the name was again changed. Thus, the decree obtained by the original plaintiff i.e., Tata Tea, was in the name of a non-existent company. The contention of non-maintainability of the suit as per the 2010 Act was also raised again.
The counsel for Tata Tea pointed out that as per Section 23 of the erstwhile Companies Act, 1956, and the corresponding Section 13 of the Companies Act, 2013, provided that the change of name and its registration would not affect any legal proceedings by or against the company and that the present dispute was not within the scope of 2010 Act.
Analysis and Decision:
The Court noted that when a change in the name of the company took place and the same got registered in the register of the companies, there was no substantial change in the constitution of the entity and therefore neither any rights and obligations of the company were affected nor any legal proceedings by or against it were rendered defective. The Court held that there was no merit in the contention that the decree obtained was in the name of a non-existent company.
Regarding the contention of lack of jurisdiction of the Civil Court on coming into the force of the 2010 Act, the Court found that the Special Tribunal was for adjudicating the dispute regarding the ownership, possession, use or any rights etc., over the land in Munnar area as well as the constructions. The Court observed that as per Section 2(d) of the 2010 Act, the dispute raised in this case did not fall within the term ‘dispute’ as defined therein. The Court referred to Palanisamy v. State of Kerala, 2011 SCC OnLine Ker 612, wherein the State clarified that the constitution of the Munnar Special Tribunal was only for adjudicating the dispute regarding the ownership of the Government property in the Munnar area. The Court further noted that the Government of Kerala subsequently abolished the Special Tribunal and therefore, if the Tribunal did not exist, the contention of jurisdiction became untenable.
Consequently, the Court held that there was no illegality or infirmity in the judgments rendered by the subordinate courts and finding no substantial question of law for consideration, dismissed the present appeal.
[Antony v. Tata Tea Ltd., 2025 SCC OnLine Ker 5460, decided on 3-7-2025]
Advocates who appeared in this case:
For the Appellants/Accused: Praveen K. Joy, Adv.
For the Respondents: V. Abraham Markos, Abraham Joseph Markos, Isaac Thomas, P.G. Chandapillai Abraham, Alexander Joseph Markos, Sharad Joseph Kodanthara, Zainab Zebaibrahim P.M., John Vithayathil, Advs.