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2011 Supreme(Mad) 4001

High Court of Judicature at Madras
S. PALANIVELU
M/s. TVS Motor Company Limited Jayalakshmi Estates
Versus
M/s. Bajaj Auto Limited
A.No.2258 & 2691 of 2011 in C.S.No.979 of 2007 & C.S.No.1111 of 2007
Decided On : 21-09-2011

Advocate Appeared:
For the Applicant:Vaidhyanathan, Senior Counsel, P.S. Raman, Senior counsel for M/s. T.K. Baskar, Advocates.
For the Defendant:T.V. Ramanujan, Senior Counsel, Nalini Chidambaram for M/s. A.A. Mohan, Advocates.

Headnote:A. CIVIL PROCEDURE CODE, 1908 - ORDER 18 RULES 2, 3 - A party having right to begin is required to produce his evidence as per Rule 2 of Order 18 - Afterwards he is precluded from letting in further evidence on pretext of letting in rebuttal evidence - He can only rebut evidence to be led by other party under Rule 3 (Para 33).

       B. CIVIL PROCEDURE CODE, 1908 - ORDER 18 RULE 3 - Joint trial - Power of High Court - HELD, High Court has inherent power to order Joint trial of 2 suits, if even some of issues are common and some of evidence to be let in is common, especially when 2 actions arise out of same set of facts - On facts, a substantial portion of evidence to be let In common are to be decided - A joint trial is ordered to overlap evidence being taken in 2 cases - Power to order such a trial is an order Inherent power of High Court (Para 6.3)

       C. CIVIL PROCEDURE CODE, 1908 - ORDER 18 RULE 13 - A party beginning evidence at his option may reserve right by way of answer to evidence produced by other party on which lies burden of proving some of issues, to lead rebuttal evidence after other party completes its evidence - Court’s duty - Court has to see whether burden of proof lies on defendant as regards some issues are concerned. (Para 17)

       Result : Applications allowed.

JUDGMENT :-

1. In view of the interconnectivity of the facts and circumstances of the cases, both the applications are taken up together and disposed of by a common order.

2. For the sake of convenience, the ranks of the parties are referred to in this judgment as plaintiff and defendant as stated in C.S.No.979 of 2009.

3. The following are the allegations contained in the affidavit of the applicant/plaintiff in A.No.2258 of 2011 filed along with petition under Order XVIII, Rule 3 C.P.C. Order XIV Rule 8 of OS Rules:-

3(1). The applicant has filed a suit in O.S.No.979 of 2007 for declaration, for permanent injunction, for directing the defendant to compensate the plaintiff a sum of rupees one crore or such other amount. The respondent/defendant filed a suit in C.S.No.1111 of 2007 praying for permanent injunction and preliminary decree directing the defendants to render accounts of profits made by sale, direction to pay a sum of Rs.10,50,000/- as damages, for delivery of the infringing copies and articles for destruction and for cost.

On 16.02.2008 an order of temporary injunction was granted in favour of the respondent restraining the applicant from in any manner infringing the respondent's patent No.195904 and/or from using the technology etc. The applicant preferred appeals in O.S.A.Nos.91 and 92 of 2008 before the Division Bench and the same were allowed on 18.05.2009. The respondent filed Special Leave Petition before the Hon'ble Supreme Court in C.A.No.6309 of 2009 which was disposed of on 16.09.2009 directing the parties to commence the trial and requesting this Court to hear the suit and dispose it off expeditiously within time frame fixed by the Apex Court. The applicant and the respondent have filed their respective written statements and issues have also been framed in both the suits. They have also filed their affidavit of documents.

3(2). On 10.03.2010, this Court passed an order directing this respondent to start letting in evidence. The respondent preferred O.S.A.No.132 and 133 of 2010 and the same were disposed of on 04.10.2010 by the Division Bench setting aside the order of the learned Single Judge, directing the applicant herein to let in evidence at the first instance.

3(3). The issues involved in the suit are groundless threat issued by the respondent on the basis of the alleged infringement of its patent by the applicant's products. During the course of trial, it is open to the respondent to let in evidence in support of its contention of infringement of its patent. In such event, the applicant herein is entitled to raise a plea that the patent granted in favour of the respondent is invalid. By way of abundant caution, the applicant files this present application reserving its rights to let in evidence in answer to the respondent's evidence alleging infringement.

3(4). So far, there is no order by this Court for joint trial to avoid hyper-technical objections being raised at a later stage, this petition is filed under Order XVIII, Rule 3 of C.P.C. permits the party to reserve its right to produce evidence in answer to the evidence produced by the other party. No prejudice will be caused to the respondent, if the present application is ordered as prayed for. Hence, it is prayed that this Hon'ble Court may be pleased to permit the applicant's/plaintiff's pleading to reserve its right to let in evidence on the issue of the invalidity of the respondent's/defendant's, their patent in answer to the respondent/defendant letting in evidence regarding validity and infringement of its patent in C.S.No.979 of 2007.

4. The following are the allegations contained in the counter affidavit filed by the respondent/defendant:-

4(1). The application is wholly misplaced and misconceived which is not maintainable. It is a dilatory tactics adopted by the plaintiff in delaying the trial of the suit especially when there is no injunction operating against it. The Hon'ble Supreme Court has directed the disposal of the trial on or before
























































































































































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