ASSAM COMPANY LTD Vs. STATE OF ANDHRA PRADESH

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The principal application taken up for consideration is the one by the first two defendants for revocation of the leave granted under Clause 12 of the Letters Patent or, in the alternative, for dismissal of the suit or, in the further alternative, for rejection of the plaint. In GA No. 649 of 2002 the State of Andhra Pradesh and the Andhra Pradesh Industrial Infrastructure Corporation Ltd. claim that the plaintiffs have no cause of action; that this Court did not have the authority to receive the suit; and, that the claim is, in any event, barred by the laws of limitation.

(2.) There are two other applications that have also been taken up. GA No. 1189 of 2009 is the plaintiffs' application for amendment of the plaint on formal grounds since the name of the second plaintiff has been changed during the pendency of the suit and the third, fourth and fifth plaintiffs have apparently merged in the first plaintiff. The third application, GA No. 1234 of 2009, is by the plaintiff under Section 89 of the Civil Procedure Code seeking a direction that the disputes in the suit be referred for redressal by an alternative forum.

(3.) The applying defendants insist that the suit could never have been brought before this Court and the specious grounds narrated for invoking the territorial jurisdiction of this Court should result in the immediate revocation of the leave granted under Clause 12 of the Letters Patent. The applying defendants say that there is a more fundamental ground for arresting the progress of the suit. According to them, all disputes arising out of a memorandum of understanding between the second plaintiff and the first defendant stood resolved pursuant to a memorandum of settlement filed before the High Court of Andhra Pradesh and accepted by such Court.