JUDGMENT :

(Prayer: This Civil Suit is preferred under Order IV Rule 1 of OS rules read with Order VII Rule 1 of CPC and Section 7 of the Commercial Courts, Commercial Division and Commercial Appellate Division of High Courts Act of 2015 seeking to grant a judgment and decree (a) directing the defendant to pay the outstanding dues to the plaintiff a sum of Rs.6,37,85455.27 (Rupees Six Crores Thirty Seven Lakhs Eighty Five Thousand Four Hundred and Fifty Five and Twenty Seven Paisa only) as on the date with 18% interest from till payment of dues (b) Grant costs of the suit.)

1. This order will now dispose of captioned suit namely C.S. No. 202 of 2022 and will consequently dispose of captioned applications.

2. Captioned main suit along with captioned applications is listed today in the motion board before this Commercial Division. Mr.C. Manishankar, learned Senior Advoate instructed by Mr.Akhil Akbar Ali of M/s. Akhil Akbar Ali Associates (Law Firm) and assisted by Ms.Vandana Parasuram and Mr.Aditya Krishna is before this Commercial Division. Learned Senior Counsel, adverting to the plaint averments submits that the main suit has been filed inter alia with a prayer for a direction to the defendant to pay a little over Rs.6.37 crores with 18% future interest and costs. To put it otherwise, it is a money suit. It was also submitted that pursuant to a tripartite agreement dated 05.04.2019 [ plaint document No. 18], an entity, which goes by the name M/s. Harman International India Private Limited (not a party to the captioned suit) supplied various equipments such as Projectors, Speakers for cinema theatre and the plaintiff, which is also a party to this agreement financed such purchase. The defendant had to repay the financed amount inter alia in instalments. This Commercial Division is informed that the contract value is a little over Rs.5.69 crores including GST. A little over Rs.3.19 crores was paid and the balance Rs.2.5 crores had to be paid in 50 equal instalments along with 5% interest per annum. To be noted, these are payments which had to be made by the defendant to the plaintiff, which is said to have financed the purchase. On failure to make payments, plaintiff is entitled to levy 18% interest. It is not necessary to dilate further and be detained by facts any more owing to the trajectory the matter took in the hearing (narrated supra).

3. Learned Senior Counsel was requested to address this Commercial Division regarding requirements qua Section 12A of 'The Commercial Courts Act, 2015 (Act 4 of 2016)', (hereinafter 'CCA' for the sake of convenience and clarity) in the light of Patil Automation case law (2022 SCC OnLine SC 1028) as date of institution of captioned suit is 14.09.2022 (post 20.08.2022), the submissions in response to this request were two-fold. One facet of the submission is that Section 12A of CCA is inapplicable to the captioned main suit as according to the learned Senior Counsel, institution of suit is prior to 20.08.2022. Another facet of the submission (obviously on a demurrer) is that the suit on hand [captioned suit] is one where 'urgent interim relief' is contemplated and therefore, it will not be hit by Patil Automation principle i.e, ratio laid down/law declared by Hon'ble Supreme Court in Patil Automation Private Limited & Others V. Rakheja Engineers Private Limited reported in 2022 SCC OnLine SC 1028.

4. A broad summation of aforementioned two-fold submissions is as follows:

(a) Four dates were stated to be critical and the same, as projected before this Commercial Division by learned Senior Counsel has been captured in the proceedings made in earlier motion list listing on 11.10.2022 by way of a tabular column and the same reads as follows: