Non-payment by the defendants and dishonored cheques led to the plaintiff's loss, entitling the plaintiff to the claimed amount along with interest.

JUDGMENT :

KRISHNA RAO, J.

1. The present suit is filed by the plaintiff for a decree for a sum Rs. 28,30,011/- along with interim interest and interest upon judgment at the rate of 18% per annum.

2. The plaintiff is engaged in the business of manufacturing and supply of various kinds of steel and PVC materials.

3. The defendant No. 1 is engaged in the business of organizing events and event management under the name and style “Konnect” as the sole proprietorship and the defendant No. 2 is an employee of defendant No. 1.

4. It is found from the records that the Writ of Summons was not served upon the defendants either by way of bailiff service or through postal service and accordingly the plaintiff has taken recourse of substituted service by way of publication in the daily Bengali Newspaper and English Newspaper and the publication was made.

5. As per the report of the Deputy Registrar (Ct. & J.) dated 14th December, 2022, it was found that even after the publication of notice, the defendants have not entered appearance and by an order dated 1st August, 2023, this Court had directed the matter to be treated as an “Undefended Suit.”

6. The plaintiff and the defendant No. 1 entered into an agreement dated 19th January, 2015, through which the plaintiff had engaged the defendant no. 1 as an Event Manager for “Coupon Redemption Programme” and some of the relevant terms of the agreement are as follows:

(i) The defendant no. 1 has to organize events in 14 locations in the State of West Bengal, 6 locations in the State of Jharkhand, 2 locations in Guahati and 6 locations in the state of Orissa on various dates and times on the basis of a list which was submitted to the defendant no. 1 by the plaintiff.

(ii) The period of contract was one year and the terms thereof was to be reviewed after every six months.

(iii) The defendant no. 1 was to collect data from the loyal and general influencers as per prescribed date provided to him and organize the ‘Coupon Redemption Scheme’ and Plumber Meet.

(iv) The representative of the defendant was to be physically present at the time of events.

(v) The defendant no. 1 was to collect coupons from the influencers and redeem the same at the rate of Rs. 20 per coupons.

(vi) The defendant no. 1 was to submit reconciliation statement regarding the details of coupons collected and money reimbursed against the coupons on a weekly basis.

(vii) The defendant no. 1 was to be paid monthly remuneration of Rs. 1,11,916/-.

7. At the time of execution of the said agreement, the plaintiff had made a payment of Rs. 1,32,247/- to the defendant for the following work to be done:

(a) Five canopies, Size 8 Ft. x 8 Ft. along with Flex Print.

(b) Five Webcam (Logitech).

(c) 5000 Loyalty Cards with lamination.

8. Thereafter, a sum of Rs. 11,500/- was again paid to the defendant No. 1 by the plaintiff for sending 50,000 messages on behalf of the plaintiff to the influencers and also a sum of Rs. 4 lakhs was deposited with the defendant as security which is to be refunded on termination of the contract.

9. The terms of the agreement dated 19th January, 2015 were revised by a letter dated 1st June, 2015, as issued by the plaintiff to the defendant no. 1. The relevant terms which were amended or added or revised by way of amendment to the agreement are as follows:

(i) Defendant no. 1 and its representatives should ensure that they are carrying enough bearer cheques of S.B.I. (State Bank of India) as this would be the preferred and only mode of payment to the influencers coming in for redemption.

(ii) Defendant no. 1 and its representatives should ensure that they also carry enough cash for the activity, as any amount below Rs. 500 should be distributed in cash.

(iii) No post-dated cheques should be issued to anybody in any venue.

(iv) The defendant no. 1 will be paid approximately Rs. 4,000/- per month per venue towards fees.

(v) Failure to follow any points mentioned in the scope of services can result in termination of contract and/or compensation