JUDGMENT :

L. S. PIRZADA, J.

1. The captioned First Appeals have been preferred by the respective defendants under Section 96 of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 (for short ‘the Code, 1908’) challenging the Judgment and Decree dated 30.06.2006 passed by the learned Principal Civil Judge, Valsad in Special Civil Suit No.180 of 1993, whereby, the learned Principal Civil Judge has partly allowed the suit of the plaintiff and directed the original defendant nos. 1 to 5 and 8 to be jointly and severally liable to pay Rs.27,29,585.75 from the date of filing of the suit till realization at the rate of 9% per annum to the plaintiff.

2. Both the captioned appeals have been challenging the same aforesaid Judgment and Decree passed by the learned Trial Court, hence, it has been decided by this Common Judgment in this appeal.

3. The appellant of the First Appeal No.1883 of 2007 has been shown as defendant no.2 in the suit and the appellant of First Appeal No.4075 of 2006 has been shown as defendant no.1. For the sake of brevity, the parties herein are referred to as per their original status as that in the suit.

4. Factual matrix leading to the present appeal is that the present respondent no.1 - original plaintiff had filed a Special Civil Suit No.180 of 1993 before the Principal Civil Judge, Valsad and it is also pertinent to note that initially the present suit was filed on 06.09.1993 by original plaintiff - Cynamide India Limited. Subsequently, a Company Petition was preferred before the Bombay High Court by Company Petition No.514 of 1997 and by Application No.19 of 1997 a scheme was presented to be amalgamated into M/s. Cynamide Agro Limited and subsequently, as per the order of the Bombay High Court dated 14.10.1997, Cynamide Agro was assigned to recover the dues of the original plaintiff - Cynamide India Limited and subsequently, Cynamide Agro Limited and B.A.S.F. Limited preferred a Company Petition No.415 of 2001 and Application No.93 of 2001 for the amalgamation scheme which was confirmed on 22.06.2001 and subsequently, in the suit B.A.S.F. India Limited has been joined as the original plaintiff in place of the Cynamide India Limited.

5. Originally, it is the case of the plaintiff that the original plaintiff – Cynamide India Limited is registered under the provisions of the Companies Act, 2013 having its registered office at Mumbai and manufacturing unit at Atul, Taluka: Valsad. The original plaintiff is engaged in the business of manufacturing and supplying pesticides, agricultural products and pharmaceutical goods used for the health and protection of animals and cattle. The present dispute arises out of commercial transactions entered into between the plaintiff and the defendants in the ordinary course of business.

6. Defendant No. 1 is a co-operative society registered with the Registrar of Co-operative Societies, Bharuch District and defendant nos.2 to 5 are its agents and stockists responsible for the distribution, storage and handling of goods supplied by the original plaintiff. The defendants were acting in a fiduciary and commercial capacity and were entrusted with the goods supplied by the plaintiff for sale and further distribution.

7. In pursuance of business dealings, the plaintiff supplied various consignments of pesticides, particularly a product known as “Dermet” to defendant No.1 under multiple invoices including a consignment dated 23.06.1989. The plaintiff contends that the goods were duly delivered and accepted by defendant No.1 without any immediate objection, thereby completing the contractual obligations on the part of the plaintiff.

8. During the period from 27.09.1989 to 18.01.1990, the plaintiff supplied approximately 34,000 liters of Dermet products to the defendants amounting to a total value of Rs. 51,55,373.74. Out of this amount, a sum of Rs. 32,73,345.50 was collected by defendant no.4 on behalf of defendant no.1 leaving a substantial balance amount due and payable to the plaintiff.

9. After adjusting the