R. JAYASIMHA BABU, J.

The appellant before us is the plaintiff in C.S. 438/1998 which was instituted on the Original Side of this Court for specific performance of an agreement titled “Put and Call agreement” under which the plaintiff asserted a right to purchase from the defendant Common Wealth Development Corporation (CDC), a statutory corporation incorporated in England and owned by the Government of the United Kingdom, 38 lakh equity shares in DSQ Software Limited, a public limited company incorporated in 1992 and having its registered office at Chennai. The agreed purchase price allegedly determined in terms of that agreement for 19 lakh shares covered by the call option was said to Rs. 3,73,67,763/-. Similar sum of Rs. 3,73,67,763/- was claimed to be the amount payable for the other 19 lakh shares covered by the put option, though no such option had admittedly been exercised by the respondent. It was alleged that though that agreement had been drawn up in March 1993 before the public issue and contemponeously with the shareholder subscription agreement under which CDC had agreed to subscribe for the 38 lakh equity shares of Rs. 10/- each, the same had not been execu