Partnership –Sec 69(2) Purushottam v. Shivraj Fine Art Litho Works, 2007 (4) JT 564 (SC) With respect, we find ourselves in complete agreement with the principles enunciated in Haldiram Bhujiawala and Anr. Having regard to the purpose Section 69(2) seeks to achieve and the interest sought to be protected, the bar must apply to a suit for enforcement of right arising from a contract entered into by the unregistered firm with a third party in the course of business dealings with such third party. If the right sought to be enforced does not arise from a contract to which the unregistered firm is a party, or is not entered into in connection with the business of the unregistered firm with a third party, the bar of Section 69(2) will not apply. In the instant case the contract was entered into with the respondent firm by the erstwhile proprietor of the concern namely Purushottam. The partnership firm came into existence later. The amount claimed in the suit were due to the proprietor Purushottam who carried on his proprietary business in the name and style of "Dinesh Paper Mart". When he entered into partnership with others, he contributed to the partnership by way of his contribution to the capital, all the assets and liabilities of his erstwhile proprietary concern. Thus, though the partnership firm, which was unregistered, became entitled to enforce the contractual obligation of the defendant firm which it owed to Purushottam, the contract was not one entered into by the unregistered firm with a third party, nor was it one entered into by the unregistered firm in the course of its business dealings with the defendants. So viewed, the bar of Section 69(2) cannot apply to the suit filed by the Plaintiff - appellants.

Partnership –Sec 69(2) Raptakos Brett & Co. Ltd. Vs ganesh Property 1998 (7) SCC 184 that the bar in Section 69(2) of the Act did not operate to bar a suit by an unregistered firm seeking enforcement of a statutory right or a common law right. It was held that a passing off action being a common law action based on tort, and not on contract, Section 69(2) did not apply. The reliefs of permanent injunction and damages were claimed on the basis of infringement of registered trademark. Thus the suit was held to be one based on statutory right under the Trade Marks Act, and therefore not barred by Section 69(2). "A mere look at the aforesaid provision shows that the suit filed by an unregistered firm against a third party for enforcement of any right arising from a contract with such a third party would be barred at its very inception. To attract the aforesaid bar to the suit, the following conditions must be satisfied : (i) That the plaintiff-partnership firm on the date of the suit must not be registered under the provisions of the Partnership Act and consequently or even otherwise, the persons suing are not shown in the Register of Firms as partners of the firm, on the date of the suit. (ii) Such unregistered firm or the partners mentioned in the sub- section must be suing the defendant-third party. (iii) Such a suit must be for enforcement of a right arising from a contract of the firm with such a third party".

Partnership –Sec 69(2) D.D.A. v. Kochhar Construction Work and Anr., (1998)8 SCC 559. In view of the clear provision of the Act it was not possible to subscribe to the view that subsequent registration of the firm may cure the initial defect, because the proceedings were ab initio defective as they could not have been instituted since the firm in whose name the proceedings were instituted was not a registered firm on the date of the institution of the proceedings.