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Dogiparthi Venkata Satish v. Pilla Durga Prasad

Civil Appeal · 2025 INSC 1046Decided 26 Aug 2025
C.A. No.-011104-011104 - 2025 (arising out of SLP(C) No. 25938 of 2023)
Justice Vikram Nath · Justice Sandeep Mehta

Background

The appellants leased their property to "Aditya Motors," a sole proprietorship run by Pilla Durga Prasad. After the lease ended, the tenant did not vacate, and the appellants filed an eviction suit. Midway through the case, they amended the plaint to replace the trade name "Aditya Motors" with Pilla Durga Prasad personally, since he was the one who had signed the lease deed. The defendant then argued the plaint should be thrown out because it named him personally instead of the firm.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court held that a proprietorship is not a separate legal entity - it is simply a business name under which an individual operates - and cannot itself sue or be sued as if it were a company or partnership. Order XXX Rule 10 of the Civil Procedure Code, which allows a proprietorship to be sued in its trade name, is only enabling and does not bar the real party - the proprietor himself - from being sued directly. Since Pilla Durga Prasad had personally signed the lease as the proprietor, no prejudice was caused by naming him instead of the trade name, and the High Court's rejection of the plaint on this technical ground was wrong. The Trial Court's original order refusing to reject the plaint was restored, and the suit was allowed to proceed on its merits.

Lesson Learnt

A lawsuit involving a sole proprietorship business can validly be filed against the individual proprietor personally, since the business itself has no separate legal existence apart from its owner.

Official source (sci.gov.in)View Judgment (PDF)

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