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1990 Supreme(All) 148

IN THE HIGH COURT OF ALLAHABAD
N. N. MITHAL, R. A. SHARMA
ROAD FLYING CARRIER - Appellant
Versus
G.E.C.OF INDIA LTD. - Respondents
F. A. F. O. 29 Of 1990
Decided On : 02/28/1990

Advocates Appeared:
C.P.GHILDYAL, RAJESH AGARWAL

An ex parte injunction cannot be granted unless the court records reasons for its opinion that the object of granting the injunction would be defeated by the delay, as required by O. 39, R. 3, C. P. C.

Headnote:

INJUNCTION - EX PARTE INJUNCTION - O. 39, R. 3, C. P. C. - INTERPRETATION - COURT'S DISCRETION - REASONS FOR GRANTING EX PARTE INJUNCTION - MANDATORY REQUIREMENT - FAILURE TO RECORD REASONS - INVALIDITY OF EX PARTE INJUNCTION.

Fact of the Case:

The appellants challenged an ex parte mandatory injunction order issued by the trial court directing them to deliver the custody of goods entrusted to them for transportation by the respondent. The appellants argued that the order was passed without complying with the mandatory provisions of O. 39, R. 3, C. P. C., which require the court to record reasons for granting an ex parte injunction.

Finding of the Court:

The court found that the trial court failed to record any reasons for granting the ex parte injunction, as required by O. 39, R. 3, C. P. C. The court held that the mere presence of material on the record is not sufficient to justify an ex parte injunction; the court must also apply its mind to the material and record its reasons for finding that the object of granting the injunction would be defeated by the delay.

Issues: 1. Whether the trial court erred in granting an ex parte injunction without recording reasons, as required by O. 39, R. 3, C. P. C.? 2. Whether the presence of material on the record is sufficient to justify an ex parte injunction, even in the absence of reasons recorded by the court?

Ratio Decidendi: The court held that the provisions of O. 39, R. 3, C. P. C. are mandatory and that an ex parte injunction cannot be granted unless the court records reasons for its opinion that the object of granting the injunction would be defeated by the delay. The court further held that the mere presence of material on the record is not sufficient to justify an ex parte injunction; the court must also apply its mind to the material and record its reasons for finding that the object of granting the injunction would be defeated by the delay.

Final Decision: The court set aside the ex parte injunction order passed by the trial court and directed the appellants to deliver the goods to the respondent within a period of one week. The court also directed the appellants to file a reply to the interim injunction application within a period of one week, and the trial court to dispose of the injunction matter within two weeks.

( 1 ) THIS is an appeal by the defendant-appellants against the order passed ex parte, issuing a mandatory injunction against it to deliver the custody of the goods entrusted to it for purpose of transport by the plaintiff. The main grievance of the appellants is that the order was passed ex parte without complying with the provisions of O. 39, R. 3, C. P. C. , which are mandatory in nature.

( 2 ) ON a perusal of the order impugned herein, we find that although court below has tried to safeguard the interest of both the parties; but it has failed to record any reason as to why it became necessary to pass an ex parte injunction without serving notice on the respondent.

( 3 ) RULE 3 of O. 39, C. P. C. lays down that only in case where it appears to the Court that object of granting injunction would be defeated by the delay it has no power to issue ex parte order of injunction. In that circumstance also the court has to record reasons for its opinion that the object of granting injunction would be defeated by the delay. Sri R. K. Agrawal, learned counsel for the respondent has however, submitted that even if reasons have not been, mentioned, yet there was material, which was enough for forming its opinion to grant ex parte injunction order. We cannot agree to this submission, for the simple reasons that where law requires recording of reasons for doing a particular act, the mere presence of material on the record is not sufficient; but it must also be shown that the court has applied its mind to that material. Reasons must find a place in the order ultimately passed by a court. Reference in this connection may be made to the decision of the Supreme Court in Collector of Monghyr v. Keshav Prasad Goenka, AIR 1962 SC 1694. In para 16 of the report a similar argument was raised before the Supreme Court and was repelled in the following words :"to suggest that by a recital of the nature of the repairs required to be carried out and employing the language of S. 5-A (j) the officer has recorded his reason for invoking S. 5-A is to confuse the recording of the conclusion of the officer with the reasons for which he arrived at that conclusion. Besides just as it would not be open to argument that the terms of S. 5-A (1) will be attracted to cases where there is factually an emergent need for reparis of the type envisaged by the section but the Collector does not so record in his order; similarly the factual existence of reasons for the Collectors conclusion would not avail where he does not comply with the statutory requirement of stating them in his order. "besides the above case, recently in F. A. F. O. No. 293 of 1989, a Division Bench of this Court (to which one of us was a member) precisely the same question arose and it was held that the ex parte injunction cannot be granted unless R. 3 of O. 39 is complied with.

( 4 ) IN view of this proposition of law, we are not inclined to agree with the submission made by the learned counsel for the respondent, as the law requires reasons to be recorded by the court, which has not been done and, therefore, the order under appeal cannot be sustained.

( 5 ) HOWEVER, we find from the order that the court below has taken steps to adequately safeguard the interest of both the parties inasmuch as the claim of the respondent as per Annexure 6, annexed with the affidavit, was to the tune of Rs. 4,11,818/- and that the amount has been directed by the court to be deposited in the shape of fixed deposit by the plaintiff-respondent in the fixed deposit receipts duly endorsed in the name of the court so that it may be available to be paid to the party succeeding at the time of the final disposal of the suit. This will adequately safeguard the interest of both the parties. The main requirement of the respondent is that the goods, which had been delivered to the appellants for transportation should be released and be given in the custody of the plaintiff-respondent forthwith. In view of the above discussion,





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