MADURA COATS LIMITED Vs. UNION OF INDIA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The maintainability of the present writ petition is in question. The challenge to maintainability is on several grounds, including the ground that the disputes involved in the present writ petition are purely contractual and that the petitioner had even filed a suit being Civil Suit No.2851/1999 which stood decreed against the Bank of India (Respondent No.4) and in favour of the petitioner on 21.04.2003. A further ground taken is that the relief sought in the present writ petition would require a detailed investigation into disputed and complicated questions of fact and for which a writ petition is not an appropriate remedy.

(2.) Hilton Rubbers Limited (Respondent No.6) (hereinafter referred to as 'HRL' ) placed various orders for the supply of nylon and polyester based fabrics on the petitioner. For the purposes of completing the transaction, HRL instructed the Bank of India (Respondent No.4) (hereinafter referred to as 'BOI') to open and establish irrevocable letters of credit in favour of the petitioner. Four such letters of credit were established by the BOI. When the petitioner presented the documents to the State Bank of India, Industrial Finance Branch Madurai for payment under the said letters of credit, the same were sent for collection to the BOI, which refused to make the payments pointing out discrepancies in the documents.

(3.) Being aggrieved by the action of the BOI in not making the full payment under the said letters of credit on the purported ground of discrepancies in the documents, the petitioner filed the present writ petition requesting this Court to grant the following reliefs:-