High Court Of Calcutta
A. M. BHATTACHARJEE, AJIT KUMAR NAYAK
JAGJIT SINGH KHANNA - Appellant
Versus
RAKHAL DAS MULLICK - Respondent
F. M. A. T. 2754 Of 1987
Decided On : 04/30/1987
CIVIL PROCEDURE CODE, 1908 - S. 94, O. 39, R. 1, R. 2 - TEMPORARY INJUNCTION - POWER OF COURT - SOURCE - SINGLE SOURCE - S. 94(C) READ WITH O. 39, R. 1 AND R. 2 - COURT CAN GRANT AD INTERIM INJUNCTION TILL DISPOSAL OF APPLICATION FOR TEMPORARY INJUNCTION, IF SUBSEQUENT DEVELOPMENTS OR ALTERED CIRCUMSTANCES WARRANT SUCH GRANT, EVEN THOUGH IT HAS REFUSED TO GRANT THE SAME EARLIER ON MATERIALS THEN ON RECORD.
Fact of the Case:
Plaintiff filed an application under O. 39, Civil P. C., for a temporary mandatory injunction against defendant 1 and a temporary prohibitory injunction against defendant 2. The trial court issued notices to the defendants to show cause, but refused ad interim injunction. Plaintiff filed another application under S. 94 of the Code renewing his prayer for ad interim injunction against defendant 1 and on consent of both the parties, the trial Court allowed the application under S. 94 of the Code and granted ad interim injunction "till the final disposal of the application under O. 39, Rr. 1 and 2, C. P. C." Defendant 2 appealed against the order of ad interim injunction.
Finding of the Court:
The court held that a temporary injunction can be granted only under one set of provisions namely, under S. 94 (c) read with O. 39, Rr. 1 and 2 of the Code. The court also held that a court can grant ad interim injunction till the disposal of the application for the temporary injunction, if subsequent developments or altered circumstances warrant such grant, even though it has refused to grant the same earlier on the materials then on record.
Issues: Whether the court has two sources of power to grant temporary injunction, one under S. 94 (c) and another under O. 39 of the Code.
Ratio Decidendi: The court held that the Code clothes the Courts with only one source of power to grant temporary injunction, namely, under S. 94 (c) read with O. 39, Rr. 1 and 2 of the Code.
Final Decision: The court dismissed the appeal against the order of ad interim injunction.
( 1 ) THE plaintiff, who is respondent 1 before us, filed an application under the provisions of O. 39, Civil P. C. , praying for a temporary mandatory injunction against defendant 1, who is respondent 2 before us and a temporary prohibitory injunction against defendant 2, who is the appellant before us. The trial court issued notices to the defendants to show cause as to why such injunctions shall not be granted, but refused the prayer for ad interim injunction.
( 2 ) WITHIN a week thereafter defendant 1 appeared and prayed for time to file his show cause. The plaintiff has then filed another application under the provisions of S. 94 of the Code renewing his prayer for ad interim injunction against defendant 1 and on consent of both the parties, the trial Court has allowed the application under S. 94 of the Code and has granted ad interim injunction "till the final disposal of the application under O. 39, Rr. 1 and 2, C. P. C. " and has stated in the impugned order that "the petition under S. 94, C. P. C. , be thus disposed of".
( 3 ) IT seems that the trial Court in refusing ad interim injunction under an application labelled as one under O. 39 of the Code and thereafter in granting ad interim injunction on an application purporting to be under s. 94 of the Code "till the final disposal of the application under O. 39, Rr. 1 and 2, C. P. C. ", proceeded under the impression that the Code clothes the Courts with two sources of power to grant temporary injunction, one under S. 94 of the Code and the other under O. 39 of the Code. The impression is wholly erroneous as would appear from a bare perusal of the provisions of S. 94 (c) of the Code whereunder the Court may grant a temporary injunction only "if it is so prescribed". The expression "prescribed" in S. 94 would obviously mean, as defined in S. 2 (16) of the Code, "prescribed by Rules". The Rules which prescribe grant of temporary injunction are R. 1 and R. 2 of O. 39 and, therefore, a temporary injunction may be granted under S. 94 (c) only if a case satisfying the requirements of Rr. 1 and 2, O. 39 is made out. As already noted not that the Court has two sources of power, one under S. 94 (c) and another under O. 39 of the Code and may resort to one or the other as and when necessary, but that under the Code the Court grants temporary injunction only under one set of provisions, namely, S. 94 (c) read with O. 39, Rr. 1 and 2 of the Code. It is true that, as pointed out by the Supreme Court in Manohar Lal v. Seth Hiralal, AIR 1962 SC 527, a Court can grant temporary injunction in exercise of its inherent powers also, but there it does not grant it under any power conferred by the Code but under powers inhering in its very constitution which are saved by and under S. 151 of the Code. The words "a temporary injunction granted under the last preceding Section" in S. 95 of the Code indicate that temporary injunction is granted under the provisions of S. 94, but the words "any injunction granted. . . under R. 1 or R. 2" in R. 2a of O. 39 may give rise to the impression that a temporary injunction may be granted independently under the provisions of O. 39, Rr. 1 and 2 also. But, as already indicated, under the Code a temporary injunction can be granted only under one set of provisions namely, under S. 94 (c) read with O. 39, Rr. 1 and 2.
( 4 ) BOTH the applications for ad interim/temporary injunctions must, therefore, be treated as applications under S. 94 (c) read with O. 39 of the Code, even though the first one was labelled as one under O. 39 only and the second one as one under S. 94 only. The net question, therefore, is that if a Court has refused ad interim injunction and has only issued notice to show cause on an application for temporary injunction, can it, on a subsequent application, grant ad interim injunction till the disposal of the earlier application for temporary injunction. A temporary injunction may, as it very often does, consist of two s
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