- (1.) THE suit was filed against the Municipal Corporation, Amritsar in which an application was made under Order 39 Rules 1 & 2 on October 17, 2012. The trial Court without issuing notice to the Municipal Corporation to elicit its view with respect to a hotel run by the plaintiffs issued an ex parte interim injunction ordering maintaining of status quo with regard to the existing condition of the disputed property. The petitioner -Corporation put in appearance before the trial Court on receiving summons and filed a response to the application on December 12, 2012 bringing out the full facts of the case and praying that the interim injunction deserves to be vacated.
(2.) THE written statement was filed in which an objection is taken that the suit itself is not maintainable. However, be that as it may, the application has remained pending hearing and Mr. Khunger appearing for the Corporation vigorously complains that the decision on the temporary injunction application has been delayed by the plaintiffs only to secure the continued benefit of the ex parte status quo order. The case is now fixed for May 22, 2014 before the learned Civil Judge (Junior Division), Amritsar. Any further delay would be uncalled for. The Court had sufficient material and pleadings on affidavit on the judicial file to have decided this matter long ago. If the application under Order 39 Rules 1 and 2 remains pending it is not hard to imagine that the suit would remain halted and would make no progress only to enure to the undue benefit of the plaintiffs by default of unnecessary adjournments. A long story has been spun by the plaintiffs as I find in the order of October 17, 2012 involving a local politician who is a Cabinet Minister and is said to be nursing a grudge against the respondent Vaneet Mahajan son of the co -plaintiff who is alleged to have caused the issuance of an order of demolition against the plaintiffs who are the owners of the disputed property.
(3.) MR . Khunger submits that the Municipal Corporation, Amritsar is before this Court facing a Public Interest Litigation where this Court has siezed of complaints of unauthorized constructions of hotels etc. in Amritsar city and any further delay in the decision on the application for temporary injunction, one way or the other, is causing serious difficulties, prejudice and embarrassment to the petitioner. Public interest requires intervention of this court to issue directions for expediting the hearing on the application under Order 39 Rules 1 and 2 CPC. In view of the fact that the application has remained pending for a sufficiently long time without any apparent reason, the trial Court is directed to take up the matter on May 22, 2014, hear the parties and pass a final order in accordance with law forthwith. However, nothing said in this order would be construed as an expression of opinion on the merits of the pending application. With the above directions, the petition stands disposed of.;