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19. It is a matter of common experience that in a large majority of cases the Government or the public officer concerned make no use of the opportunity afforded by the section. In most cases the notice given under Section 80 remains unanswered till the expiration of two months provided by the section. It is also clear that in a large number of cases, as here, the Government or the public officer utilised the section merely to raise technical defences contending either that no notice had been given or that the notice actually given did not comply with the requirements of the section. It is unfortunate that the defendants came forward with a technical plea that the suit was not maintainable at the instance of the plaintiffs, the legal heirs of Seth Lachman Dass, on the ground that no fresh notice had been given by them. This was obviously a technical plea calculated to defeat the just claim.

Unfortunately, the technical plea so raised prevailed with the High Court with the result that the plaintiffs have been deprived of their legitimate dues for the last 35 years.

20. The Law Commission in the Fourteenth Report, Volume 1 on the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 at p. 475 made a recommendation that Section 80 of the Code should be deleted. It was stated as follows:

The evidence disclosed that in a large majority of cases, the Government or the public officer made no use of the opportunity afforded CIVIL APPEAL NOS.4495-4496 OF 2019 by the section. In most cases the notice given under Section 80 remained unanswered till the expiry of the period of two months provided by the section. It was also clear that in a large number of cases, governments and public offices utilised the section merely to raise technical defences contending either that no notice had been given or that the notice actually given did not comply with the requirements of the section. These technical defences appeared to have succeeded in a number of cases defeating the just claims of the citizens.