RFA (OS) 48/2011 & 59/2011 Page 1 of 22

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IN THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI

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Judgment Reserved On: November 25, 2011

Judgment Delivered On: December 13, 2011

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RFA(OS) 48/2011

MEENA CHAWLA

..... Appellant

Through: Mr.D.K.Malhotra, Advocate with

Mr.Rajesh Kumar Malhotra, Advocate

versus

PRISM ENTERTAINMENT PVT. LTD.

& ORS.

….Respondents

Through: Mr.Ravi Gupta, Sr.Advocate with

Mr.Gaurav Gupta, Advocate for R-1

and R-4

Mr.Kirti Uppal, Sr.Advocate with

Mr.Puneet Bhatnagar, Advocate for R-

2 and R-6

Mr.Suyodhan Byrapaneni, Advocate

for Mr.G.Ramakrishna Prasad,

Advocate for R-5

RFA(OS) 59/2011

NITU SAINI & ANR.

..... Appellants

Through: Mr.Kirti Uppal, Sr.Advocate with

Mr.Puneet Bhatnagar and Ms.Richa,

Advocates

versus

MEENA CHAWLA & CO.

….Respondents

Through: Mr.D.K.Malhotra, Advocate with

Mr.Rajesh Kumar Malhotra, Advocate

for R-1

Mr.Ravi Gupta, Sr.Advocate with

Mr.Gaurav Gupta, Advocate for R-2

and R-4

2011:DHC:6390-DB

RFA (OS) 48/2011 & 59/2011 Page 2 of 22

Mr.Suyodhan Byrapaneni, Advocate

for Mr.G.Ramakrishna Prasad,

Advocate for R-5

CORAM:

HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE PRADEEP NANDRAJOG

HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE S.P. GARG

PRADEEP NANDRAJOG, J.

1. The above captioned appeals arise out of a judgment

and decree dated 09.02.2011 passed by the learned Single

Judge whereunder the suit for recovery in sum of

`43,31,250/- and permanent injunction filed by Mrs.Meena

Chawla, appellant in RFA(OS) No.48/2011, has been decreed

against Mrs.Nitu S.Saini and her husband Sh.Sunil Saini, the

appellants in RFA(OS) No.59/2011. The suit has been

dismissed against the other defendants i.e. M/s.Prism

Entertainment (P) Ltd, Ritu Parna Sengupta, Anjana Dalmia

and M/s.Prasad Film Laboratories.

2. For the sake of convenience, we shall be referring to

the parties by their nomenclature in the suit i.e. the plaintiff

and defendants.

3. Briefly stated, the facts pleaded in the plaint are that

the plaintiff Meena Chawla was approached by the Directors

of the defendant No.1 company M/s.Prism Entertainment

Pvt. Ltd. to finance a film which the company was producing

by the name „Eai Ki Sanskar‟. She agreed to advance loan

in sum of `35,00,000/- to the defendant No.1 company and

as per agreement, she was to be returned the said sum with

interest @ 30% per annum on or before August 06, 2004.

At that time, the negatives of the films were being

2011:DHC:6390-DB

RFA (OS) 48/2011 & 59/2011 Page 3 of 22

processed and were lying with the defendant No.5

laboratory i.e. M/s.Prasad Film Laboratory. It was agreed

that defendant No.1 shall pledge the distribution, exhibition

and exploitation rights of the film with the plaintiff by way of

security for repaying the loan. Alleging that neither was the

principal sum repaid nor any interest was paid, decree

claimed against the company and defendants No.2 to 4 i.e.

Nitu S.Saini, Ritu Perna Sengupta and Anjana Dalmia,

describing all of them as the Directors of defendant No.1,

was in sum of `43,31,250/-. Alleging that the plaintiff

apprehended collusion of defendant No.5 in delivering the

prints of the film to third parties, injunction was claimed

against said defendant from delivering the prints to the

other defendants. Injunction was also prayed to restrain the

defendants from dealing with the negatives of the film.

4. The defendants Nos.1, 3 and 4 filed a joint written

statement stating that in the year 2002, the defendant No.2

and her husband Sunil Saini approached defendant No.3 and

represented to her that they wanted to produce films in

association with her and that they had surplus financial

resources at their disposal