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2015 Supreme(Del) 988

IN THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI
V. KAMESWAR RAO, J.
Jindal Steel & Power Limited – Petitioner
Versus
SAP India Private Limited – Respondent
O.M.P. No. 119 of 2015 & I.A. No. 9264 of 2015
Decided On : 29.6.2015

Advocate Appeared:
For the Petitioner:Mr. Dhruv Mehta, Senior Advocate, Mr. Manish Sharma, Ms. Ranjana Roy Gawai, Mr. Krishna Keshav, Advocates.
For the Respondent:Mr. Parag Tripathi, Senior Advocate, Mr. Vikas Dutta, Mr. Siddharth Silwal, Mr. Nikhil Varshney, Ms. Mahima Gupta, Advocates.

Headnote:

Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 - Section 9 r/w Section 10, 14(1)(c) and 41 of Specific Relief Act, 1963 - Restraint order - Termination of SAP Software End-User License Agreement - Injunction prayed for was statutorily prohibited on conjoint reading of Section 41 and Section 14(1)(c) since the contract in question was determinable in nature - Agreement in this case was determinable and the relief as sought for by the petitioner cannot be granted - Petitioner is also not entitled to the relief of Specific Performance, the software licenses in favour of the petitioner are not ordinary articles of commerce which are readily available in the market - Moreover, termination having been effected and damages being an adequate remedy, the agreement cannot be revived - No relief can be granted - Petition dismissed.

JUDGMENT

V. KAMESWAR RAO, J.

1. This petition under Section 9 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act has been filed by the petitioner initially seeking a restraint order against the respondent from terminating the SAP Software End-User License Agreement dated September 27, 2005 entered into between the parties.

2. This relief was in view of the legal notice issued by the respondent dated December 30, 2014 threatening termination of the License. I may only note here that during the pendency of the petition, the respondent has in fact, terminated the License Agreement dated September 27, 2005, vide order dated April 30, 2015, which compelled the petitioner to file an application seeking the stay of the termination order. Suffice to state, this Court had not stayed the termination of the License Agreement. Even though, the petitioner has not amended the petition incorporating the challenge to order dated April 30, 2015, as the order dated April 30, 2015 has been placed on record and the learned Senior Counsel for the respondent has no objection on this Court proceeding on the premise that the present Petition lay a challenge to order dated April 30, 2015, this Court has heard the arguments on the termination order as well.

The Facts

3. On September 27, 2005, the petitioner and the respondent entered into a License Agreement whereby the petitioner was granted a non-exclusive perpetual License to use the SAP software documentation and other SAP proprietary information to run the petitioners internal operation and to provide internal training and testing. Clause 2.1 relates to the License. Clause 3 relates to Verification. Clause 5.1 defines the Term and Clause 11 is the Arbitration clause. According to the petitioner, the total Licenses available with the petitioner are 21,908 and it has made huge one time investment of Rs. 13,86,57,580/- (approximately) and recurring payments of Rs. 15,28,57,254/-(approximately) to procure the SAP Licenses and the petitioner has been using the SAP applications for business computing, for which the petitioner has been paying a recurring amount as per agreed terms. It is the case of the petitioner that since the initial License of the year 2005, the petitioner has been using the SAP Licenses and during all these years, there has never been any complaint of excess usage or violation of the License agreement, by the respondent. According to the petitioner, on November 13/14, 2014, a team from the respondents office of License had visited the petitioners facilities at Raigarh, Chattisgarh and conducted onsite License audit. The petitioners representatives/ officials extended all cooperation and assistance in the conduct of the audit by the respondents representatives. It is the case of the petitioner that the respondents officers were required to hold a closing meeting with the representatives of the petitioner after the conduct of the License audit in order to explain the methodology adopted by the respondent in conducting the License audit and to discuss and explain the findings of the audit. However, after completing the audit on November 14, 2014, the representatives of the respondent left the site/facilities of the petitioner without holding any closing meeting or submitting a draft report and without discussing or explaining the findings of the audit with the representatives of the petitioner. The petitioners case is that on November 20, 2014, the petitioner was completely shocked and surprised to receive an email from the respondent, wherein, for the first time, it was alleged significant non-compliances/ violation in the usage of SAP License by the petitioner on the basis of the License audit conducted on November 13/14, 2014. The respondent also raised a claim of Rs. 193,97,55,773/-. Immediately thereafter on November 20, 2014, the petitioner replied vide an email pointing out that no closing meeting was followed as a standard practice and sought an in-person meeting and presentation from the








































































































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