Partnership firm continuity defeats Section 69(2) bar where deed preserves succession and later change is only constitutional.

Section 69(2) of the Partnership Act bars a suit only where the suing firm is unregistered and the partners suing are not shown in the Register of Firms. A partnership deed may also exclude dissolution on a partner's death, and retirement does not by itself dissolve the firm under the Act's scheme. Here, the deed extended the principal partners' interest to their survivors, heirs, executors and administrators, and a later agreement merely recorded a change in constitution while continuing the same business under the same firm name. Non-notification under Section 63(1) did not defeat maintainability, so the suit was not barred.

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Issues: Whether the suit was barred by Section 69(2) of the Partnership Act, 1932 on the ground that the firm suing was a new and unregistered firm, and whether the death of one partner or retirement of another dissolved the earlier partnership.

Analysis: The conditions of Section 69(2) are satisfied only if the firm is registered and the persons suing are shown as partners in the Register of Firms. The statutory scheme of the Partnership Act differs from the earlier Contract Act provision, and the omission of the former dissolution rule indicates that retirement of a partner does not, by itself, dissolve the firm. As to death of a partner, Section 42(c) applies subject to contract between the partners. The partnership deed showed two classes of partners and expressly extended the principal partners' interest to their survivors, heirs, executors and administrators, which negatived an intention that death should dissolve the partnership. The later agreement of 24-6-1940 merely recorded a change in constitution and continuation of the existing business under the same firm name, without proving dissolution and formation of a new firm. Non-notification under Section 63(1) did not affect maintainability under Section 69(2).

Conclusion: The suit was not barred by Section 69(2), the firm remained the same registered firm, and the objection to maintainability failed.

Ratio Decidendi: A partnership deed may exclude dissolution on the death of a partner, and a mere change in the constitution of a registered firm does not create a new unregistered firm so as to attract the bar under Section 69(2) of the Partnership Act, 1932.

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