State Of Kerala (Shown As The Government Of Kerala In Exhibit P1 Plaint In Os No. 163 Of 2022), Represented By The District Collector, Malappuram vs Malabar Port Pvt. Ltd

P.Somarajan, J

The defendants in the suit came up on three grounds, firstly, the Munsiff Court has no jurisdiction to entertain a suit of this nature as the pecuniary jurisdiction of the subject matter sought to be injuncted exceeds the pecuniary limits of the Munsiff Court. It is submitted that it would come to crores and crores of rupees and it is well evident from the bank guarantee furnished. Without taking into account, an interim injunction was granted by the trial court restraining the State Government, the defendants, not to receive the amount covered by the bank guarantee. Secondly, on the ground that the bank guarantee would expire tomorrow and an advance petition submitted so far was not taken up or decided, instead, the trial court posted the same for objection of the other side. I am at a loss to understand what is actually going on in the trial court. The defendants have filed an application for returning the plaint for proper presentation, but so far no orders were passed on that application. Without going into the said question, an interim order of injunction was granted and maintained by the trial court, that too, overlooking the extent of pecuniary jurisdiction. Necessarily, it requires urgent consideration by the trial court. The 3rd defendant entered appearance through Adv.K.P.Sudheer. The bank, the respondent No.4, also entered appearance through Adv.Santheep Angarath. The notice to the other respondents is hereby dispensed with since it is for early consideration of the pending applications, that is, the application challenging the pecuniary jurisdiction of the trial court in dealing with the matter, the advance application and also the application submitted for renewing the bank guarantee. Hence, there will be a direction to the trial court to take up the abovesaid application positively tomorrow and pass orders on all these applications. It is made clear that the trial court shall take necessary safeguarding measures in order to maintain the bank guarantee, as such, till that time, that is the date of disposal of the abovesaid applications. The trial court shall give proper notice today itself to the learned counsel appearing for the other respondents in the trial court so as to provide a right of hearing to them.

The O.P(C) will stand disposed of accordingly.