Judgment

Altamas Kabir, J.

Leave granted.

2. The Appellant No.1 herein is an agro-based company having varied interests in providing feed supplements, vaccines etc. The Appellant Nos.2 and 3 are the Managing Director and Chairperson of the Appellant No.1 Company, which is based in Hyderabad in the State of Andhra Pradesh. In order to utilize the dealer network of the Appellant No.1 Company, the Respondent No.1 Company approached the Appellants for distribution of prawn feed manufactured by it. Inasmuch as, the said venture did not turn out to be very successful, the Appellant No.1 Company took a decision to discontinue its dealings with the Respondent No.1 Company. In furtherance of the above, the Appellant Company settled all its outstandings with the Respondent No.1 Company and also gave an authorization letter to the Respondent No.1 Company to collect all other dues directly from the customers of the Appellant No.1 Company, who had bought the feed but were yet to pay the price therefor. The concerned customers were also informed about the aforesaid decision. Thereafter, on 4th October, 2001, the Appellant Company requested the Respondent No.1 Company to coordinate with one K. Ba