Importance of complying with court orders and limited role of the appellate court in interfering with the impugned order.

JUDGMENT

Saurabh Banerjee, J. (Oral)

1. Appellants (original defendants) through this appeal seek setting aside of the impugned order dated 31st October, 2022 passed by the learned Single Judge in an application under Order XXXIX rule 2A of Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 (hereinafter referred to as the "CPC") read with Section(s) 11 and 12 of The Contempt of Court Act, 1971 (hereinafter referred to as the "CCA") filed by the respondent (original plaintiff) against the appellant nos.2 and 3 and also (i) Mehul Parasmal Panani (ii) Ms. Manjula Parasmal Jain, (iii) Mr. Bharat Aggarwal, (iv) Mr. Shreyansh Aggarwal, (v) Ms. Seema Rajput and (vi) Mr. Bharat Bhushan Uppal (hereinafter collectively referred to as the "alleged contemnors"). The learned Single Judge in view of the earlier ad interim ex parte order of injunction dated 5th October, 2021, has been given one last opportunity to the said alleged contemnors to file their affidavit and photographs subject to their depositing a sum of Rs. Two Crores with the Registrar General of this Court within one month.

2. Succinctly put, the respondent instituted a suit for permanent injunction, infringement of patent and copyright, damages/ rendition of accounts, delivery up etc. against the appellants before the learned Single Judge for restraining them from infringing its registered Patent No. IN 329620 and from using photographs and literature from its brochures and technical specifications of the products that amounted to infringement of its copyrights, amongst other reliefs. When the matter was listed before the learned Single Judge on 05th October, 2021 for the first time, finding merit in the matter of the respondent and as it was able to make put a prima facie case with balance of convenience in its favour, vide an order of even date, the learned Single Judge restrained the said appellants', their proprietors, partners etc. by an ex parte injunction from infringing the registered patent IN 329620 of the respondent and further from using the photographs, illustrations from the respondent's brochure and the technical specifications of the products that amounted to infringement of respondent's copyright.

3. Upon being served, the appellants first filed their detailed written statement challenging the validity of the registered patent IN 329620 of the respondent and then an application under Order XXXIX Rule 4 of the CPC for vacation of the ad interim ex parte order of injunction dated 5th October, 2021. As apprised by the learned Senior Counsel for the appellants, the pleadings in the said application under Order XXXIX Rule 4 of the CPC of the appellants are complete and the said application is pending disposal.

4. In the meanwhile, finding that the appellants were continuing with their activities in violation of the ad interim ex parte order of injunction dated 5th October, 2021, the respondent filed an application under Order XXXIX rule 2A of CPC read with Section(s) 11 and 12 of CCA (hereinafter referred to as the "contempt application") against the appellant nos.2 and 3 along with alleged contemnors and not the appellant no.1.

5. Upon completion of the pleadings in the said contempt application and after hearing all the parties therein, the learned Single Judge specifically held as under:

"17. The submissions being made today that though the bid documents have these photographs, the supplies made were of different bins, does not appeal to this Court. In response to a tender, once the bids are submitted to a Government Entity, it would not be permissible, barring exceptional situations, for the said entity to accept any other products than the once which have been put up in the bid by the bidder. Nothing has been shown to the Court that the bins supplied were different. A perusal of the No- Deviation Certificate submitted by the Defendants also clearly shows that there cannot be any deviation between what was offered and what was supplied by the Plaintiff. Thus, the submission