TMI Blog2001 (10) TMI 321X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ns ought to be transferred to the High Court at Chennai, in the interest of justice, we agree with this plea. For the reasons stated above, these appeals succeed and the same are hereby allowed. The impugned judgment is set aside. We further direct that Special Civil Application Nos. 3282/99 and 3279/99 filed by the respondents are hereby directed to be transferred to the High Court of Madras at Chennai forthwith and on receipt of the papers, we request the Chief Justice of the High Court of Madras to place them before an appropriate Bench for disposal in accordance with law. We are also of the opinion that since the parties have already undergone one round of litigation before the High Court at Ahmedabad and thereafter in these appeals before us, it is appropriate to request the High Court to dispose of these appeals as early as possible. The appeals are, accordingly, allowed. - 6320-6321 of 2000 - - - Dated:- 31-10-2001 - N. Santosh Hegde and Ashok Bhan, JJ. REPRESENTED BY : S/Shri Mukul Rohtagi, ASG, Jaideep Gupta, Tara Chand Sharma, S.N. Terdol and B.K. Prasad, Advocates with him, for the Appellant. S/Shri F.S. Nariman and Ashok Desai, Sr. Advocates, Vikram Nankan ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... part of the cause of action has arisen within the territorial jurisdiction of the High Court at Ahmedabad, hence, the judgment in question cannot be invalidated on this preliminary ground. He placed strong reliance on the judgment of this Court in the case of Navinchandra N. Majithia v. State of Maharashtra Ors. [2000 (7) SCC 640]. 5. Having considered the arguments addressed on behalf of the parties and having perused the records, we are of the considered opinion that the question of jurisdiction should be first decided by us before going into the merits of the case in hand. As a matter of fact, we feel it would have been more appropriate on the facts of these cases if the High Court had proceeded under Order XIV Rule 2 of Civil Procedure Code by deciding the question of jurisdiction as a preliminary issue first instead of deciding the case on merit. 6. For deciding the above issue, it is necessary to first notice the contentions raised in the special civil applications to establish the territorial jurisdiction of the High Court. Contentions regarding the cause of action and the territorial jurisdiction of the High Court are pleaded in the applications at para 16 which read ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... judgment of this Court in the case of Union of India v. Oswal Woollen (supra) held that in view of the observations of this Court in the said case, a civil application can be filed at the place where the registered office of the Company is situated and having regard to the fact that the registered office of the respondent-Company is situated at Ahmedabad, it accepted the argument of the learned counsel for the respondent that it is not necessary to discuss this issue any further, meaning thereby it accepted the contention of the respondent s counsel that the High Court at Ahmedabad had the territorial jurisdiction to decide the application. 10. We are unable to accept this finding of the High Court. The view of the High Court that this Court in the case of Oswal Woollen (supra) had held that the existence of the registered office of a Company would ipso facto give a cause of action to the High Court within whose jurisdiction the registered office of such Company is situated, is not correct. As a matter of fact, in the case of Oswal Woollen (supra), the question of territorial jurisdiction in the sense with which we are concerned now, did not arise at all. In that case, the observ ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... edabad, at least for the purpose of conferring territorial jurisdiction on the High Court at Ahmedabad. At this stage, it is relevant to mention that it is an admitted fact that none of the respondents in the civil applications (Appellants herein) are stationed at Ahmedabad. It is also an admitted fact that the pass-book in question, benefit of which the respondent is seeking in the civil applications, is issued by an authority who is stationed at Chennai. The Designated Authority who is the competent person in respect of the matters concerning the Pass Book Scheme and who discharges various functions under the Scheme is also stationed at Chennai. The entries in the pass-book under the concerned Scheme are to be made by the authorities at Chennai. The export of prawn made by the respondents and the import of the inputs benefit of which the respondents are seeking in the applications, also will have to be made through the same Port i.e. Chennai. 13. In spite of the above admitted facts, the respondents herein plead that as per the plea raised by them in paragraph 16 of the special civil application, the following facts give rise to the cause of action conferring territorial jurisd ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ticle 226 a High Court can exercise the power to issue directions, orders or writs for the enforcement of any of the fundamental rights conferred by Part III of the Constitution or for any other purpose if the cause of action, wholly or in part, had arisen within the territories in relation to which it exercises jurisdiction, notwithstanding that the seat of the Government or authority or the residence of the person against whom the direction, order or writ is issued is not within the said territories. The expression cause of action means that bundle of facts which the petitioner must prove, if traversed, to entitle him to a judgment in his favour by the Court. Therefore, in determining the objection of lack of territorial jurisdiction the Court must take all the facts pleaded in support of the cause of action into consideration albeit without embarking upon an enquiry as to the correctness or otherwise of the said facts. Thus the question of territorial jurisdiction must be decided on the facts pleaded in the petition, the truth or otherwise of the averments made in the petition being immaterial. 17. It is seen from the above that in order to confer jurisdiction on a High Cou ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... efinitely give rise to a part of cause of action at Ahmedabad, but on behalf of the appellants, it is pointed out to us that the subject-matter involved in the applications pertains to the denial of the benefit of the import-exports scheme which ended w.e.f. 31-3-1997 while the bank guarantee and the Bond in question were not part of the Pass Book Scheme which is the subject-matter of the special civil applications with which we are concerned now. Execution of the bank guarantee was not with reference to the demand of the respondents to give it due credit in the pass book but the same was executed much later than 31-3-1997 in regard to certain disputes pending with the customs authorities in regard to the valuations made by the said authorities as to the value of the export and import of prawn and its inputs. It was also pointed out that these customs authorities, as a matter of fact are not even parties to these special civil applications. Thus, it is contended that the factum of the respondents having executed a bank guarantee and a Bond at Ahmedabad will have no direct nexus or bearing on the disputes involved in these applications. It is pointed out to us by learned counsel for ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... of Bombay. According to this Court, that finding was given without taking into consideration the other alternative prayers in the writ petition to which we have made reference hereinabove, which prayers according to this Court, gave rise to a cause of action to move the High Court at Bombay for relief. Therefore, in our opinion, this judgment does not help the writ petitioner to justify its action in filing a writ petition before the Gujarat High Court. That apart, we must notice that the said judgment is delivered in a matter involving criminal dispute and consequences of such dispute have a direct bearing on the personal freedom of a citizen guaranteed under Article 21 of the Constitution. Therefore, the consideration that arises in deciding the question of territorial jurisdiction in cases involving criminal offences may not always apply to cases involving civil disputes like the special civil applications with which we are concerned. Mr. Desai then urged that since the High Court has elaborately dealt with the merits of the case and given a finding in favour of the respondents in the interest of justice, we should not interfere with the said finding and uphold the same. We are ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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