(i) Once there was a registered partnership deed, there is no further document placed on record by the complainant-respondent No.1 regarding dissolution of the said registered deed which continued till the time when the investment was made by the complainant respondent No.1 on 21.05.2002 and hence the complainant respondent No.1 would be deemed to be partner of the firm. It is only upon the death of the Managing Partner Basavaraj Uppin in March 2003, that the status of the firm would cease to exist or would stand dissolved.

(ii) The investment made by the respondent No.1 complainant was for deriving benefit by getting an interest on the same at the rate of 18 % per annum, therefore, it would be an investment for profit/gain. It was a commercial transaction and therefore also would be outside the purview of the 1986 Act. Commercial disputes cannot be decided in summary proceeding under the Consumer Protection Act, 1986 but the appropriate remedy for recovery of the said amount, if any, admissible to the complainant-respondent No.1, would be before the Civil Court. The complaint was thus not maintainable.

(iii) Thirdly, there was no evidence on record to show that a fresh partnership deed was executed reconstituting the firm in which the present appellants had become partners so as to take upon themselves the assets and liabilities of the firm. The law is well settled that legal heirs of a deceased partner do not become liable for any liability of the firm upon the death of the partner.