This is an appeal by the plaintiff against the decree in O.S. No. 9 of 1951, Sub-Court, Dindigul, dismissing his suit for the taking of the accounts of a dissolved partnership, for dealing in tobacco. The learned Subordinate Judge has dismissed the suit on the ground that the partnership put forward by the plaintiff was illegal as being prohibited by the Central Excises Act and the Rules framed thereunder.

The plaintiff’s case was that in or about 1945 he and the defendants (two in number) formed a partnership for trading in tobacco in Jakkamanayakkanpatti under the terms of which the plaintiff undertook to furnish the necessary finance, these advances carrying interest at 6 per cent. per annum, while the defendants were to be in charge of the day-to-day management of the business maintaining true and regular accounts, and that the profit and loss should be shared one half by the plaintiff, the two defendants together taking the other half. The agreement which resulted in these arrangements was stated to be oral but that subsequently there was some writing evidencing slight variations of these terms. The plaintiff went on to state that the partnership which was at will was c