Operative partnership deed required for renewal of registration after fixed-term expiry of the original firm.

Renewal of registration under Section 26A required an application by a firm constituted under an operative instrument of partnership, and the renewal stood on the same footing as original registration. Where the partnership deed had expired on the fixed term, the original firm was treated as dissolved and the firm seeking renewal was not the same entity to which the earlier certificate had been granted. Sections 17 and 42 of the Partnership Act did not remove the need for a subsisting deed; they only regulated rights and duties if business continued after expiry. Renewal was therefore not available in the absence of an operative partnership deed.

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Issues: Whether renewal of registration under Section 26A could be granted when the partnership deed had ceased to operate on expiry of the fixed term and, consequently, whether an existing operative instrument of partnership was necessary for renewal.

Analysis: Renewal of registration was held to stand on the same footing as registration under Section 26A, which requires an application on behalf of a firm constituted under an instrument of partnership. Rule 6 permits renewal only by the firm to which registration had earlier been granted. On the finding that the deed had expired and the firm constituted under it had come to an end, the firm seeking renewal was not the same firm to which the original certificate had been granted. Section 17 of the Partnership Act, read with Section 42, did not dispense with the need for a subsisting operative instrument; it only regulated the rights and duties of partners if they continued business after expiry of the fixed term, while the earlier firm stood dissolved.

Conclusion: Renewal could not be granted in the absence of an operative partnership deed supporting the firm at the time of the application, and the answer to the referred question was against the assessee.

Ratio Decidendi: For renewal of registration under Section 26A, the applicant must be a firm constituted under an operative instrument of partnership; expiry of a fixed-term deed dissolves the original firm, and continuance of business thereafter does not by itself satisfy the statutory requirement for renewal.

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