Prabhat Industries vs. Trsd Foods Private Limited

Held

The Court allowed the plaintiff to withdraw the suit. The withdrawal was granted with liberty to the plaintiff to file a fresh suit if they chose to pay the Goods and Services Tax (GST). This decision was made after the plaintiff's counsel explicitly withdrew the suit. The Court noted that the ex parte injunction previously granted to the plaintiff had been vacated due to the plaintiff's non-payment and concealment of GST. The defendant's counsel stated no objection to the withdrawal, subject to their rights regarding any future suit. The suit was accordingly dismissed as withdrawn with the stipulated liberty, and no costs were awarded.

Facts

The plaintiff, Prabhat Industries, had filed a commercial suit (CS(COMM) 1087/2018) against the defendant, TRSD Foods Private Limited. An ex parte injunction was initially granted to the plaintiff. However, the plaintiff withdrew the suit. This withdrawal was necessitated by the plaintiff's non-payment of Goods and Services Tax (GST) and concealment thereof, which led to the vacation of the previously granted ex parte injunction. The defendant stated they had no objection to the withdrawal, subject to their objections to any fresh suit that might be filed.

Key Issues

1. Whether the plaintiff is entitled to withdraw the suit with liberty to file again, considering the reasons for withdrawal were non-payment and concealment of GST, which led to the vacation of an ex parte injunction. The plaintiff argued for withdrawal of the suit with liberty to refile, citing the non-payment and concealment of GST as the reason. The plaintiff sought to reserve the right to file a fresh suit if they chose to pay the GST. The defendant, through their senior counsel, stated they had no objection to the withdrawal, provided their objections to any potential fresh suit were preserved. No specific legal provisions or precedents were explicitly mentioned in the arguments presented in the judgment.