Kuri auction discount must be shared with regular subscribers, and the foreman cannot keep amounts beyond authorised commission.

The statutory scheme governing a kuri requires the vaimpu to set out the mode and proportion of distribution of auction discount, and it limits the foreman's remuneration to the commission or allowance fixed thereunder. Where the vaimpu expressly provided that auction discount would be shared among subscribers in proportion to their ticket share, and that discount forfeited by defaulting prized or auctioned subscribers would on termination go to regular subscribers, the forfeited amount had to be so distributed. The foreman could not retain any part of that amount beyond the commission authorised by the vaimpu.

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Issues: Whether the auction discount forfeited by defaulting subscribers in a kuri is liable to be distributed among the prompt and regular subscribers, and whether the foreman can retain any amount beyond the commission fixed under the vaimpu.

Analysis: The Act defines the kuri, the vaimpu, the discount, the prize amount, the foreman and veethapalisa, and requires the vaimpu to specify the mode and proportion of distribution of discount. The statutory scheme confines the foreman's remuneration to the commission or allowance fixed in the vaimpu and does not permit retention of amounts beyond what is expressly provided. Clause 8(c) of the vaimpu specifically provided that auction discount would be distributed to all subscribers in proportion to their ticket share and that discount forfeited by defaulting prized or auctioned subscribers would, on termination of the kuri, be distributed among subscribers who had remitted their instalments regularly.

Conclusion: The forfeited auction discount was required to be distributed among the regular subscribers, and the foreman was not entitled to appropriate it beyond the commission authorised by the vaimpu.

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