(1.) APPELLANT (Plaintiff) filed a Suit for permanent and mandatory injunction, inter alia, praying therein that the Respondents (Defendants) be restrained from publishing and distributing the offensive and defamatory portion of the book as detailed in the Plaint, particularly at page No. 45 and 186 -191 of the book, and also to remove such negative imputations pertaining to the Appellant. An application under Order 39 Rule 1 and 2 of Code of Civil Procedure (CPC) was filed, inter alia, seeking ex -parte ad - interim injunction in the above terms. Vide order dated 13th April, 2010 learned Single Judge, while issuing summons in the Suit and notice of the Application to the Respondents, declined to grant ad -interim ex -parte injunction as prayed for. Aggrieved by non grant of ex -parte injunction Plaintiff has preferred this Appeal.
(2.) BRIEF background of the case is that the Respondent No. 1 enrolled himself with the Appellant Company, a coaching institute, sometime in June, 2007 for preparation of IIT -JEE (Indian Institute of Technology - Joint Entrance Examination) proposed to be held in May, 2009. The Respondent No. 1 appeared in the said examination and topped. On the eve of result of IIT -JEE Respondent No. 1 and his parents (Respondent Nos. 2 and 3) participated in a press conference and gave credit to the appellant and its faculty for the success of the Respondent No. 1. Respondent No. 1 also wrote a letter of appreciation in this regard. It appears that subsequently, Respondent No. 1 penned down a book titled "The Secret of My Success" detailing therein efforts made by him as also paying tribute to the persons who had contributed to his success. The book contained a chapter 'Role of Parents' authored by Respondent No. 2 (father of Respondent No. 1.). Book was published by the Respondent Nos. 4 to 6.
(3.) LEARNED Single Judge considered the above facts and arrived at a conclusion that no prima facie case was made out by the Appellant to seek a gag order against the publication of the book nor was there any balance of convenience in its favour. That the Appellant was yet to establish that the alleged remarks were defamatory in nature and as such pre -censorship was not permissible, therefore, question of irreparable loss or injury to the Appellant was also not there. Learned Single Judge also placed reliance on Khushwant Singh and Anr. v. Maneka Gandhi reported in AIR 2002 DEL 58.