MURRAY AND COMPANY PVT LIMITED Vs. MADANLAL PODDAR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This petition is to seek transfer of OS 166 of 1993 titled Ajanta Services (P) Ltd. v. Murray and Co. (P) Ltd. pending in the Calcutta High court. The aforesaid suit was said to have been filed on 12/05/1993. Beforehand Murray and Co. and a few others had filed suit No. 649 of 1993 in the court of Civil judge, Nagar, Kanpur, seeking relief of permanent injunction against the defendants restraining them from acting as directors of the plaintiff company i. e. Murray and Co. and also from selling the properties of the company situated atcalcutta and Kanpur and of their personal properties in any manner, and from operating the bank accounts in India and also from making any settlement on behalf of the company in matters pending in the court. Besides, a decree for mandatory injunction was also prayed for directing the defendants to hand over all the papers and documents regarding the affairs of the company in their possession to the plaintiff company, and Ashok Kumar Nevatia, the second plaintiff, at Kanpur. The suit at Calcutta is in the nature of a cross-suit filed by the same shareholders seeking almost the identical relief against the defendants who are directors of the company. It appears that two rival groups in the company are engaged in this contentious litigation trying to score over each other. It is seen that not only is the suit filed in Kanpur earlier in time but the registered office of the company is also at Kanpur. We are told at the Bar that the income tax returns of the company are also filed at Kanpur. It goes without saying that the two suits otherwise deserve to be decided by one and the same court. For what has been said earlier, the balance of convenience also suggests that the court at Kanpur should be the most convenient court to try these two suits. Therefore, we allow this transfer petition and direct that the file of OS No. 166 of 1993 titled Ajanta Services (P) Ltd. v. Murray and Co. (P) Ltd. pending in the Calcutta High court be transferred to the file of the Civil Judge, Nagar, kanpur so that the same is tried along with the suit No. 649 of 1993 Murray and co. (P) Ltd. v. Madanlal Poddar. Transfer Petition is allowed accordingly. No costs.