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We propose to treat C. A. No. 105 of 1961 as a typical case. The relevant facts thereof are briefly these :

In O. S. 46 of 1943 one Ramanathan Chettiar instituted a suit against one Venkatachalam Chettiar in the court of the Subordinate Judge of Devakottai, for the recovery of a sum of Rs. 10,285/- due on promisory note dated November 20, 1942 with interest thereon. He eventually obtained a decree for the full claim. In so far as the second defendant is concerned, he was made liable for the decrctal amount to the extent of this interest in the joint family property of himself and his father. The plaintiff assigned the decree in favour of Chidambaram Chettiar, who is the appellant in C. A. 105 of 1961. He filed an execution application but the execution proceedings commenced by him proved infructuous because the first defendant was adjudicated an insolvent on February 27, 1945. On September 9, 1946 a composition of the debts due from the insolvent and his son, the second defendant. was arrived at. To the deed of composition the second defendant was also a party though he was not adjudicated an insolvent. Under that deed the creditors, including the four appellants before us, agreed to take 40% of the dues, except one creditor who was to be paid a little more. The defendants, it may be mentioned, bad extensive money-lending business in Burma and the bulk of their property was situate in that country. Under the composition arrangement the entire property of the defendants, both in India and in Burma was to vest in four trustees, one of whom was the insolvent, that is, the first defendant to the suit. Two of the trustees were the present appellants, Chidambaram Chettiar and Krishnappa Chettiar, appellant in C. A. 104 of 1961. The fourth trustee was an outsider. The total indebtedness of the defendants, as ascertained on the date on which the composition was effected, was Rs. 2,16,077/4/8/- but it was reduced under the arrangement to Rs. 86,430-13-3. There are four schedules to the composition deed. Schedule A sets out the names of the creditors and the amounts due to them, Schedule B sets out the properties of the defendants and Schedules C and D set out the properties at Leiwo and Meola respectively in Burma. The deed provides for the payment of the reduced amount by the trustees to different creditors from the income of the properties or by sale, or mortgage of those properties within four years from April 14, 1947. The deed further provides for the extension of this time limit "according to exigencies and necessity at the discretion of the first two trustees"

The composition deed contains various other terms out of which it would be relevant to set out only the following two :

"Clause 8 : Until 40 per cent of the amount is paid to the creditors as aforesaid, the said Trustees, shall at the time of disbursement of the dividend, pay from the 1st Chitirai of the year Sarvajith for the annual expenses of the family, a sum of Rs. 600 per annum to indivi- dual No. 4 Trustees Venkatachalam Chettiar and a sum of Rs. 300 per annum to his son Nachiappa Chettiar for the aforesaid expenses. Clause 16 : After the annulment of the order of adjudication herein, the aforesaid Venkata- chalam Chettiar shall, in respect of transfer etc., of management of the properties mentioned in C and D schedules, execute a general power of attorney in the favour of individual Nos. 1 and 2 trustees and have the same registered."

The composition scheme was accepted by the insolvency Court and the adjudication of the first defendant as insolvent was annulled by the court on December 19, 1946. Due to political changes in Burma only very little was realised out of the Burma assets within the period of four years prescribed in the composition deed. The trustees who were empowered to extend the time did not extend it. The appellants, therefore, turned to the Indian assets and sought execution of their decrees against them. Two contentions were raised on behalf of the defendants. One was that the Indian assets could not be sold until the assets in Burma were completely exhausted and the other was that the execution applications were barred by time. In O. S. No. 46 of 1943 the last execution application was dismissed on September 19, 1946 (E. P. No. 109 of 1946). No execution petition was filed thereafter till the present petition (E. P. No. 117 of 1952). This was filed on June 13, 1952. Similarly in the remaining three appeals also execu. tion applications with which we are concerned were filed more than three years after the dismissal of the previous execution applications. It may be mentioned that originally the appellant as well as appellants in the other appeals had sought the execution of their respective decrees for the fall amount. But they amended their petitions later on pursuant to the orders of the court and restricted their claims to 40 per cent of the amounts due under their decrees. The appellant Chidambaram filed an affidavit along with the execution petition and set out the following grounds in support of his contention that the execution application was within time.

Yours sincerely, Sd/- J. C. Galstaun."

The q qestion to be considered was whether this amounted to an acknowledgment of the mortgagee's right. This Court held that it did amount to an acknowledgment and observed thus :

"It is thus clear that acknowledgment as prescribed by s. 19 merely renews debt; it does not create a new right of action. It is a mere acknowledgment of the liability in respect of the right in question ; it need not be accompanied by a promise to pay either expressly or even by implication. The statement on which a plea of acknowledgment is based must relate to a present subsisting liability though the exact nature or the specific character of the said liability may not be indicated in words. Words used in the acknowledgment must, however, indicate the existence of jural relationship between the parties such as that of debtor and creditor, and it must appear that the statement is made with the intention to admit such jural relationship. Such intention can be inferred by implication from the nature of the admission and need not be expressed in words. If the statement is fairly clear then the intention to admit jural relationship may be implied from it. The admission in question need not be express but must be made in circumstances and in words from which the court can reasonably infer that the person making the admission intended to refer to a subsisting liability as at the date of the statement. In construing words used in the statements made in writing on which a plea of acknowledgment rests oral evidence has been expressly excluded but surrounding circumstances can always be considered. Stated generally courts lean in favour of a liberal construction of such statements though it does not mean that where no admission is made one should be inferred., or where a statement was made clearly without intending to admit the existence of jural relationship such intention could be fastened on the maker of the statement by an involved or far-fetched process of' reasoning. Broadly stated that is the effect of the relevant provisions contained in s. 19, and there is really no substantial difference between the parties as to the true legal position in this matter.' In our opinion, this case is not of assistance co the appellants. In the appeals before us though there was a personal liability on the defendants under the various decrees, their liability which was created by the composition deed was only on properties in which they had, consequent on the creation of a trust under the composition deed, only a beneficial interest. This new liability had to be discharged by the trustees in whom the legal title to the property vested Thus there were two different sets of persons who were liable, the defendants and the Trustees and their respective liabilities were distinct. What the defendant No. 2 has referred to is the libility of the Trustees arising under the terms of the deed of composition and could be enforced only against them. To refer to a liability resting on someone else is not to acknowledge one's own liability within the meaning of the word in s. 19. The defendant No. 2 has not even indirectly referred to the decree much less to the liability arising under any of them. In the circumstances we must hold that this letter does not extend the period of limitation. For these reasons we uphold the decision of the High Court and dismiss each of these appeals with costs. There will, however, be only one hearing fee.