LENNARTS EQUIPMENT PRIVATE LIMITED Vs. PUNJAB NATIONAL BANK

JUDGEMENT

(1.) A permanent injunction has been sought for restraining defendant No. 1, Punjab National Bank (P.N.B.) from making any payment to defendant No. 3 (M/s. Elconmet Ltd.) under the L.C. The reason for seeking these injunctions is to be found in the prayer clause itself, inasmuch as it is prayed that restraint orders should be effective "till such time as the defective material -supplied by them (Elconmet) to the plaintiff under the purchase order dated 15.11.1997" is not replaced. The prayer itself, therefore, succinctly sets out the facts on which the suit is predicated. By way of further adumbration, the plaint sets out that the plaintiff had purchased material from defendant No. 3 for supplying it to the plaintiff's various customers. In para 8 of the plaint, it has been averred that "defendant No. 3 wrongly mentioned the Lennarts India to be the consignee in respect of the said goods in the G.R. The defendant No. 3 sent the original G.R. directly to the plaintiff which, otherwise should have been negotiated through Bank. In spite of this, the plaintiff accepted the Hundi which proves a point on the nature of trust the plaintiff had on defendant No. 3."

(2.) An ex parts ad interim injunction was granted in I.A. No. 5539/98 on 13.7.1998 directing P.N.B. not to make payment to defendant No. 2 State Bank of India (S.B.I.) under the L.C. Consequently whereas in the plaint the restraint order has been directed against P.N.B. from making any payment to S.B.I. in the application the injunction prayed for is against defendant No. I from making any payment to Lanyards. It was for this reason that the ex parte ad interim Injunction has been passed.

(3.) Consequent upon receipt of notice, S.B.I, filed an application under Order XXXIX, Rule 4, being I.A. No. 353/1999, seeking vacation of the ex parte Orders dated 13.7.1998. Shortly stated its case is that the Bank has acted entirely in terms of the Letter of Credit and, therefore, that it cannot be affected by any disputes inter se the plaintiff (Lennarts) and Eiconmet Ltd. (defendant No. 3) P.N.B. has supported the stand taken by S.B.I. stated that it shall make payment against a L.C. as and when the ex parte ad interim injunction is set aside or varied.