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2007 Supreme(SC) 1039

TARUN CHATTERJEE, P.K.BALASUBRAMANYAN
Himadri Chemicals Industries Ltd – Appellant
Versus
Coal Tar Refining Company – Respondent


Judgement Key Points

Based on the legal principles established in the provided document, the court's stance is that the bank is obligated to honor and pay the amount under the Letter of Credit or Bank Guarantee without protest once the demand is made, provided that the terms of the guarantee or letter are met. The court emphasizes that the bank must act in accordance with the unconditional and independent nature of such guarantees or letters, and it is not permissible for the court to scrutinize or examine the "merits" of the underlying dispute between the beneficiary and the contractor or applicant.

The court clearly states that the existence of a dispute or disagreements regarding the underlying contract or the quality of goods does not provide sufficient grounds to restrain the bank from paying under an unconditional guarantee or letter of credit. The bank's obligation is to honor the demand as per the terms of the guarantee, regardless of any pending dispute, unless there is clear and egregious fraud or irretrievable harm that would justify an exception.

Therefore, once a proper demand is made in accordance with the terms, the bank must process the payment without raising objections or examining the dispute's merits, maintaining the principle that the guarantee or letter of credit is an independent and autonomous contract.


JUDGMENT

TARUN CHATTERJEE, J.

1.Application for permission to file special leave petition is allowed. Leave granted.

2. This appeal is directed against the judgment and order dated 21st June, 2007 passed by a Division Bench of the Calcutta High Court whereby an appeal preferred against an order dated 5th June, 2007 of a learned Single Judge of the same High Court was dismissed and the order of the learned Single Judge was affirmed. The learned Single Judge by his order dated 5th June, 2007 had vacated an interim order of status quo granted earlier on an application filed under Section 9 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 (hereinafter referred to as the Act ) for an order of injunction restraining the respondent from receiving any payment under a Letter of Credit.

3.At this stage, we feel it proper to narrate the facts which have given rise to the filing of this appeal in this Court.

4.The appellant entered into a contract on 29th May, 2006 with the respondent by which the respondent had agreed to supply 26,000 metric tones of Extra Hard Pitch (Reprocessing Grade) (in short goods ) to the appellant as per schedule set out in the contract. In the said contrac





























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