VIDEOCON INTERNATIONAL LTD. AND ORS. Vs. NANDAKUMAR NAIDU

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Leave granted. This appeal by special leave is directed against the judgment and order passed by the High Court of Karnataka, Circuit Bench at Dharwad in R.F.A. No. 760 of 2005, dated 16.03.2011. By the impugned judgment and order, the High Court has allowed the First Appeal filed by the Respondent/Plaintiff and reversed the judgment and order passed by the Trial Court in O.S. No. 51 of 2002, dated 22.02.2005, whereby the Trial Court had dismissed the suit filed by the Respondent/Plaintiff.

(2.) For the sake of uniformity and clarity, we would be referring to the parties herein as stated in the judgment of the Trial Court.

(3.) The Plaintiff, Nandakumar Naidu was appointed as the exclusive dealer of the Defendant-Company (Appellant No. 1 herein) at Hubli to display, promote, advertise and market the various goods of the Defendant-Company for a period of five years from 01.09.1996 to 31.06.2001 with the payment of Rs. 60,000/- per month as minimum revenue by offer letter dated 01.09.1996 and acceptance of the same by letter dated 01.10.1996. Accordingly, the Plaintiff invested monies and established a showroom in the name of Videocon Plaza at Hubli on 19.09.1996. At the end of every calendar month, the Plaintiff used to send the debit note for a sum of Rs. 60,000/- alongwith the accounts reflecting the amounts paid by the Defendant-Company and the outstanding amount due from them after adjusting the value of goods sent by them. In 1998, due to certain misunderstanding, the Plaintiff had to request the Defendant-Company to co-operate with him in conducting his business by supplying the goods in time after issuing appropriate debit-note(s). In turn, the Defendant-Company by letter dated 20.07.1998 requested the Plaintiff to settle his accounts at the earliest after returning the unsold goods. On 04.08.1998, the Plaintiff replied that he had already returned the unsold goods and further, by the letter dated 04.09.1998 requested the Defendant-Company to supply goods and settle the accounts. The Defendant-Company assured to settle the accounts at the earliest after the receipt of unsold goods by letter-in-reply dated 08.09.1998 which reads as follows: