A corporation shall be deemed to be carrying on business at any place where it has a subordinate office, regardless of whether that office has the power to sell, deliver, purchase, or enter into any contract.

1. This revision petition arises out of a small cause suit for the recovery of Rs. 1,500.00 by way of refund of the said amount allegedly representing excess price paid by the plaintiff (petitioner herein) to the defendant Company (respondent herein) on account of goods supplied by the latter to the former.

2. The defendant Company challenged the jurisdiction of the trial Court. The issue relating thereto was tried as the preliminary issue. The same having been held against the plaintiff, so this revision petition at its instance.

3. Before proceeding to examine the question pertaining to jurisdiction, a few relevant facts bearing on the said issue may be taken notice of. These can be stated thus:

4. The plaintiff Surinder Kumar Arora is the sole proprietor of the concern known and styled as Quality Textile Mills, Katra Jallianwala, Amritsar, while the defendant Company is the Bengal National Textile Mills Limited with its registered office at 87, Dharamtola Street, Calcutta. Admittedly, the defendant Company also has a Branch Office at Amritsar. The plaintiff concern was engaged in the manufacture of woollen textiles. The distribution of the woollen yarn, which the plaintiff concern needed, was controlled by the Woollen Textile (Production and Distribution Control) Order, 1962. The Textile Commissioner, who dealt with the distribution of woollen yarn, allotted 400 kgs. of woollen yarn to the plaintiff concern and assigned the responsibility of supplying the same to it to the defendant Company. The defendant Company supplied in the first instance 140 kgs. of the woollen yarn of the requisite quality. However, the balance woollen yarn coming to 260 kgs., that was supplied by the defendant Company, was not of the requisite quality and the price that had been charged for it exceeded the price fixed by the Textile Commissioner. The plaintiff sought to recover the excess price, as also the interest thereon which amounted to Rs. 1,500.00 in all.

5. It is admitted on all hands that no part of cause of action arose at Amritsar and, therefore, the case did not fall under cl. (c) of Sec. 20 of the Civil P. C. The Courts at Amritsar were sought to be invested with the jurisdiction in the matter under cl. (a) of S. 20 with the aid of Explanation II thereof which are in the following terms :

"20. Subject to the limitations aforesaid, every suit shall be instituted in a Court within the local limits of whose jurisdiction - (a) the defendant, or each of the defendants where there are more than one, at the time of the commencement of the suit, actually and voluntarily resides, or carries on business, or personally works for gain; or

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Explanation II-A Corporation shall be deemed to carry on business at its sole or principal office in India or, in respect of any cause of action arising at any place where it has also a subordinate office, at such place."

5A. The learned trial Judge interpreted the explanation shall be deemed to carry on business......at such place as meaning the place where, if any Branch Office is located, that office had the power and authority to sell, deliver, purchase or enter into any contract and since the Branch Office at Amritsar, according to the trial Judge, could not transact either of the business aforesaid, the Amritsar Courts could not be held to be having jurisdiction by virtue of cl. (a) aided with explanation II of Sec. 20 of the Civil P. C.

6 The view taken by the learned trial Judge is quite contrary to explanation II and is obviously fallacious and the learned counsel for the respondent, very rightly, has desisted from supporting the ultimate decision on that basis.

7. The learned counsel for the respondent has, on the other hand, sought to support the decision of the learned trial Judge on the ground that to give jurisdiction to a Court in a matter it is not enough that the Branch Office of the defendant, if the same happens to be a Corporation, exists at that place, for it must furth