Defendants 1 and 3 to 5 in O.S. Nor 106 of 1967, on the file of the VIII Assistant Judge, City Civil Court, Madras, who succeeded before the trial Judge, but lost before the Appellate Judge are the appellants herein. The suit was instituted by the first respondent herein for the recovery of a sum of Rs. 4,216, on the basis of Exhibit A-2, the promissory note, said to have been executed by the second defendant on behalf of the first defendant as its Managing Director. The suit has been filed under Order 37, rule 2 of the Code of Civil Procedure. The plaint avers that the plaintiff, the first respondent herein, advanced a sum of Rs. 10,000 under the promissory note Exhibit A-2, with interest thereon at 1.80 per cent. per mensem and that in respect of the said promissory note, the first defendant has paid to the plaintiff only Rs. 6,000 and failed to pay the balance. In paragraph 6 of the plaint it is stated that the defendants are liable to pay the balance of Rs. 4,000 and a sum of Rs. 216 by way of interest from 9th September, 1966 till the date of suit. Hence the suit was instituted for the recovery of a sum of Rs. 4, 216. The defendants put forward various defences. One