In Brief
The appellants owned property leased to Aditya Motors, a sole proprietorship of Pilla Durga Prasad. After the lease expired, the lessee failed to vacate and inducted a third party company without consent. The appellants sued for eviction and later amended the plaint to substitute the proprietor (Pilla Durga Prasad) for the proprietorship concern. The High Court rejected the plaint under Order VII Rule 11 CPC, holding the proprietorship should have been sued. The Supreme Court reversed this, holding that Order XXX Rule 10 CPC merely enables—not mandates—suing a proprietorship concern. Since the proprietor is the real party and sole owner, impleading him as defendant is sufficient and discloses a valid cause of action. The Court remitted the case for trial on merits."
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