69. Effect of non-registration - (1) No suit to enforce a right arising from a contract or conferred by this Act shall be instituted in any Court by or on behalf of any person suing as a partner in a firm against the firm or any person alleged to be or to have been a partner in the firm unless the firm is registered and the person suing is or has been shown in the Register of Firms as a partner in the firm.
2) No suit to enforce a right arising from a contract shall be instituted in any Court by or on behalf of a firm against any third party unless the firm is registered and the persons suing are or have been shown in the Register of Firms as partners in the firm.
3) The provisions of subsections (1) and (2) shall apply also to a claim of set-off or other proceeding to enforce a right arising from a contract, but shall not affect -
a) the enforcement of any right to sue for the dissolution of a firm or for accounts of a dissolved firm, or any right or power to realize the property of a dissolved form, or
b) the powers of an official assignee, receiver or Court under the [Insolvency] […Federal Territory of Karachi Act 1909] or the Provincial Insolvency Act 1920 to realize the property of an insolvent partner.
4) This section shall not apply -
a) to firms or to partners in firms which have no place of business in [Pakistan] or whose places for business in [Pakistan] are situated in areas to which by notification under [section 56] this Chapter does not apply or
a) to any suit or claim of set-off not exceeding one hundred rupees in value which, ³*** is not of a kind specified in the Second Schedule to the Provincial Small Cause Courts Act, 1887 or to any proceeding in execution or other proceeding incidental to or arising from any such suit or claim.
70. Penalty for furnishing false particulars - Any person who signs any statement, amending statement, notice or intimation under this Chapter containing any particular which he knows to be false or does not believe to be true, or containing particulars which he knows to be incomplete or does not believe to be complete, shall be punishable with imprisonment which may extend to three months, or with fine, or with both.
71. Power to make rules - (1) [Provincial Government] may make rules prescribing the fees which shall accompany documents sent to the Registrar of Firms, or which shall be payable for the inspection of documents in the custody of the Registrar of Firms, or which shall be payable for the inspection of documents in the custody of the Registrar of Firms or for copies from the Register of Firms:
Provided that such fees shall not exceed the maximum fees specified in Schedule I.
(2) The [Provincial Government] may [also] make rules -
(a) prescribing the form of statement submitted under section 58, and of the verification thereof;
(a) requiring statements, intimations and notices under sections 60,61,62 and 63 to be in prescribed form, and prescribing the form, thereof;
(a) prescribing the form of the Register of Firms and the mode in which entries relating to firms are to be made therein, and the mode in which such entries are to be amended or notes made therein;
(a) regulating the procedure of the Registrar when disputes arise;
(a) regulating the filing of documents received by the Registrar;
(a) prescribing conditions for the inspection of original documents;
(a) regulating the grant of copies;
(a) regulating the elimination of registers and documents;
(a) providing for the maintenance and form of an index to the Register of Firms; and
(a) generally, to carry out the purposes of this Chapter.
(3) All rules made under this section shall be subject to the condition of previous publication.
CHAPTER VIII
SUPPLEMENTAL
72. Mode of giving public notice - A public notice under this Act is given -
a) where it relates to the retirement or expulsion of a partner from a registered firm, or to the dissolution of a registered firm, or to the election to become or not to become a partner in a registered firm by a person attaining majority who was admitted as a minor to the benefits of partnership, by notice to the Registrar of Firms under section 63, and by publication in the [official Gazette] and in at least one vernacular newspaper circulating in the district where the firm to which it relates has its place or principal place of business, and
b) in any other case, by publication in the [official Gazette] and in at least one vernacular newspaper circulating in the district where the firm to which it relates has its place or principal place of business.
73. [Repeals.] Rep. by the Repealing Act, 1938 (I of 1938), S.2 and Schedule.
74. Savings - Nothing in this Act or any repeal effected thereby shall affect or be deemed to affect-
a) any right, title, interest, obligation or liability already acquired, accrued or incurred before the commencement of this Act, or
b) any legal proceeding or remedy in respect of any such right, title, interest, obligation or liability, or anything done or suffered before the commencement of this Act, or
c) anything done or suffered before the commencement of this Act, or
d) any enactment relating to partnership not expressly repealed by this Act, or
e) any rule of insolvency relating to partnership, or
f) any rule of law not inconsistent with this Act.
