G.C.GARG, J. - (1.) M /s Devi Das Gopal Krishan limited is a Company incorporated under the Companies Act Defendants No. 2 to 7 are the Directors of the Company. The registered office of the Company is situated at Jammu. The Company has three units for extracting mustard oil from oil seeds. One unit is located at the Moga in the State of Punjab, the second is located at Bahadurgarh in the State of Haryana and the third unit is at Damtal m the State of Himachal Pradesh. The company used to sett mustard oil under the trade mark 'p'. The unit of the Company at Moga is looked after defendant No. 2 whereas the unit at Bahadurgarh is looked after by defendant No. 3 and 4 whereas defendant Nos. 5 to 7 look after the registered office of the Company at Jammu. The company had been granted a certificate of authorisation in the year 1964 for selling mustard oil manufactured by it under the provisions of the Agricultural Produce (Grading and Marking) Act, 1937 and the Rules framed thereunder. The Company had been authorised to use Agmark label or Agmark replica on the packages made by it and thereby it was authorised to sell mustard oil with the trade mark 'p' having a replica or label of Agmark. This certificate of authorisation is renewed from time to time and is valid even today. The Rules provide that the Company must have a trained. Chemist duly approved by the competent authority of the Central Government to supervise Agmark grading before the product is labelled by a label or replica of Agmark. Shri. R. L. Sharma, plaintiff in this case had been duly trained and approved by the Central Government to work as Chemist in the manufacturing unit of the company, namely, M/s. Devi Dass Gopal Krishan located at Moga. Services of Shri R. L. Sharma cannot be terminated by the Company without prior approval of the Agricultural Marketing Advisor or any other Officer authorised by the Central Government nor can his resignation be accepted except by the Central Government It is the duty of the approved Chemist that he shall strictly follow the instructions issued for inspection, sampling, analysis, packing, making and sealing of articles and to maintain the grading record in the prescribed manner to ensure timely submission of specified periodical returns. He is also responsible for the safe custody and proper accounting of Agmark labels and Agmark replicas etc. The Chemist is also a nominee of the Company under the Prevention of Food Adulteration Act and is thus, criminally liable if the products are sold by the Company without Agmark label or the products are of impure quality.
(2.) PLAINTIFF , Shri R. L. Sharma, the Chemist working in the manufacturing unit of the Company at Moga, filed a suit in the civil court at Moga against the Company and its Directors alleging that it came to his notice that some of the defendants were resorting to mal-practices and selling oil packages with the trade mark of 'p' only and without having Agmark label or Agmark replica on them, without his knowledge and thereby causing loss to the Government of India and in violation of the Rules. This act of the defendants is putting the plaintiff in danger of being criminally prosecuted. Along with the plaint, the plaintiff also filed an application under Order 39 Rules 1 and 2 read with Section 151 of the Code of Civil Procedure restraining the defendants from selling or packing for sale mustard oil having 'p' trade mark without Agmark replica/label. The trial court at Moga to whom the suit was assigned for disposal rejected the plaint under Order 7 Rule 11 of the Code as in the opinion of the trial Judge, necessary parties had not been impleaded as defendants and notice under Section 80 of the Code had not been issued before the institution of the suit. As a consequence, the application for temporary injunction was also dismissed by order dated January 24,1994.
(3.) THE plaintiff, feeling aggrieved by the order of the trial court, filed appeal before the learned District Judge. He also filed an application for grant of temporary injunction, along with the appeal, making the same prayer as was made before the trial court.;