1. The plaintiff, the Landra Engineering and Foundary Works, obtained 597 pieces of round iron from the Tata Iron and Steel Company defendant No. 2 and there pieces were booked by the said Company with the Eastern Railway (at Tata Nagar Railway Station) for being delivered to the plaintiff at Phillaur (Railway Station on Northern Railway). The plaintiff was given short delivery by 227 pieces. The present suit was instituted for the recovery of price of these short-delivered pieces and also for the profits, which the plaintiff would have gained it these pieces had been delivered to it. The Union of India was made a defendant owing and representing the Northern and Eastern Railway Administration through (a) the General Manager, Northern Railway, New Delhi, and (b) The General Manager, Eastern Railway, Calcutta. The Tata Iron and Steel Company Limited, Calcutta, was also made a defendant through its Manager.

Notice, Exhibit D. 4 was served by the plaintiff under section 80, Civil Procedure Code, on the General Manager of the Northern Railway. But no notice had been served on the Eastern Railway which was the contracting railway. The trial Court held that notices ought to have