TMI Blog1987 (11) TMI 382X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ntitled? The claim made by the appellant was disputed by the management. On the basis of the pleadings filed by the parties the Industrial Tribunal framed issues and directed the parties to lead evidence. In the course of the trial the appellant examined himself and he was cross-examined by the representative of the Narang Bank of India Ltd. Thereafter the evidence of the appellant was closed on 21.5.1976. On July 25, 1976 the Narang Bank of India Ltd. entered into an agreement with the United Bank of India, respondent No. 1 herein, whereunder all the assets and liabilities of the Narang Bank of India Ltd. were taken over by the United Bank of India, respondent No. 1. The employees of the erstwhile Narang Bank of India Ltd. became the employees of the United Bank of India, respondent No. 1 by virtue of clause 20 of the said agreement. The relevant part of clause 20 read thus: 20. (a) The Transferee shall be under an obligation to take over and absorb and retain with effect from 1st August, 1976 in its employment such staff, employees and assistants (hereinafter called the said employees ) of the Transferor or employed by the Transferor in relation to or in connection with t ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... nk of India. On August 2, 1976 three witnesses gave evidence on behalf of the former Narang Bank of India Ltd., two of whom were employees of the United Bank of India Ltd. by virtue of the agreement of merger referred to above. On September 20, 1976 two more witnesses were examined of whom one witness was a former officer of the Narang Bank of India Ltd. On that date the appellant made an application for permission to implead the United Bank of India also as a party in view of the merger which had taken place. The United Bank of India took time till November 5, 1976 to file its reply to the application made by the appellant. The evidence of the Narang Bank of India Ltd. was, however, closed on November 5, 1976. The United Bank of India sought further time to file a reply to the appellant's application. That reply was filed on November 10, 1976. After hearing arguments on the application the Tribunal directed that the United Bank of India should be impleaded as a party and also gave time to the appellant to file an amended statement of claim. The term of the Presiding Officer having expired on December, 1, 1976, a new Presiding Officer was appointed in July, 1977. On December 1, ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... a to cross examine the appellant and other witnesses. Aggrieved by the judgment of the learned Single Judge the appellant filed Letters Patent Appeal No. 67 of 1987 before the Division Bench of the High Court. That appeal was dismissed by the Division Bench of the High Court holding that the United Bank of India had the right to cross-examine the appellant on the sole ground that it had been impleaded as a party after the merger of the Narang Bank of India Ltd. with the United Bank of India. Aggrieved by the decision of the Division Bench of the High Court the appellant has filed this appeal by special leave. The question for consideration in this case is whether a party who acquires the rights and liabilities of a party to a proceeding is entitled to reopen as a matter of course the proceedings on being impleaded as a party in the place of the party whose rights and liabilities he had taken over. No express provision corresponding to rule 10 order 22 of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908, which provides that in cases of an assignment, creation or devolution of any interest during the pendency of a suit other than those cases dealt with earlier in order 22 of the Code of Civil Pr ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... y operate against a person on whom any interest has devolved in any of the ways mentioned in rule 10 of order 22 of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 subject of course to any terms in the contract of transfer or merger, scheme of amalgamation or other relevant legal provisions governing the transaction under which the transferee company or corporation has become the successor-in-interest of the transferor company or corporation. In the instant case admittedly all the rights and liabilities of the Narang Bank of India Ltd. in its banking business were taken over by the United Bank of India under the agreement of merger dated July 25, 1976. Clause 22 of the agreement of merger provides as follows: 22. The Transferee shall be substituted in place of the Transferor in respect of all Court or Tribunal proceedings cases, suits and Government and Municipal and records and shall apply to the authorities, court, Tribunal or otherwise for being added as the parties hereto and the benefits of all orders, directions, decrees and award or judgment if and when issued will pass on to the Transferee, who shall be bound or abide by the same subject to the liabilities not taken over by the Tr ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... right and was entitled to protect its own interest. As already observed by us the proceeding pending before the Tribunal on the date of merger could not be considered as a new proceeding instituted against the United Bank of India on its being impleaded. It was the same old proceeding to which the Narang Bank of India Ltd. was a party and the rights of the United Bank of India in the conduct of the proceedings could not be larger than the rights which the Narang Bank of India Ltd. itself possessed. If the Narang Bank of India Ltd. had no right to recall the witnesses who had been examined on behalf of the appellant for cross-examination on the date on which the United Bank of India made such prayer before the Tribunal, the United Bank of India also could not be granted permission to do so. In the absence of any exceptional circumstance which would have entitled in the ordinary course a party to a proceeding to recall a witness whose evidence had already been completed for further cross- examination the United Bank of India could not make such a claim at all. The learned Single Judge who set aside the award in the first instance and the Division Bench which merely affirmed the decis ..... 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