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TMI Blog1949 (7) TMI 6X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... icature at Fort William, Madras and Bombay, may make an order requiring any specific act to be done or forborne, within the local limits of its ordinary original civil jurisdiction, by any person holding a public office ,whether of a permanent or temporary nature...provided : (a) that an application for such order be made by some person whose property, franchise or personal right would be injured by the forbearing or doing (as the case may be) of the said specific act; (b) that such doing or forbearing is, under any law for the time being in force, clearly incumbent on such person or Court in his or its public character...; (c) that in the opinion of the High Court such doing or forbearing is consonant to right and justice; (d) that the applicant has no other specific and adequate legal remedy; and (e) that the remedy given by the order applied for will be complete. Nothing in this section shall be deemed to authorise any High Court- * * * * (h) to make any order which is otherwise expressly excluded by any law for the time being in force. 4. The application came to be made in the following circumstances: 5. The appellant is a limited liability co ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... g any quarter deliver to any dealer, whether in pursuance of a pre-existing contract or otherwise, cloth or yarn in excess of his quota determined under Sub-clause (2). (2) For purposes of Sub-clause (1)(b), a dealer's quota of cloth shall bear to the value of the total deliveries of cloth made to all dealers during the quarter by the manufacturer concerned the same proportion as the value of the total deliveries of cloth made to that dealer during the years, 1940, 1941 and 1942 bore to the value of the total deliveries made to all dealers during the same years by the same manufacturer; and a dealer's quota of yarn shall be similarly determined. (3) Every manufacturer shall maintain a register of contracts and deliveries and shall submit returns in such form and at such time as the Textile Commissioner may prescribe. 18B. (1) The Textile Commissioner may, with a view to securing a proper distribution of cloth or yarn or with a view to securing compliance with this order, direct any manufacturer or dealer, or any class of manufacturers or dealers- (a) to sell to such person or persons such quantities of cloth or yarn as the Textile Commissioner may specify; (b ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... 45 of the Specific Relief Act, and that the appellant was not entitled to any relief under it. 10. Kunhi Raman J. upheld the contentions of the respondent and dismissed the petition. The learned Judge held that the word deliver in Clause 18B(7)(6) must be understood in its ordinary sense in the absence of a special notification to the contrary, and if it is understood in this sense, it would include delivery of any nature that can be controlled by the Textile Commissioner. He also held that the Court had no jurisdiction to give relief to the appellant under Section 45 of the Specific Relief Act as the seizures called into question were made beyond the limits of the ordinary original civil jurisdiction of the High Court, and further, that even if an order in favour of the appellant was made, it would prove futile as it could be frustrated by a positive direction made under Sub-clause (a) of Clause 18B(1). 11. On appeal, the learned Chief Justice and Lakshmana Rao, J. held that the delivery of yarn by the appellant was in contravention of the respondent's order and dismissed the appeal. The learned Judges did not consider the other grounds dealt with by Kunhi Raman, J. ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ces may be such that the officer seizing the yarn may not be able to decide whether it has been sold or not. Their Lordships are not prepared to accept such an interpretation of the term. If the ordinary meaning of the term is to be cut down in any manner, there must be some indication of that intention in the Control Order. Their Lordships have been taken through the various provisions of the Control Order but have not been able to get any help from them in support of the appellant's contention which would restrict the usual meaning of the term. There is nothing in the Control Order which requires the word deliver to be construed in a way different from its usual meaning. 15. On the other hand the policy underlying the issue of orders under Clause 18B makes it clear that the word deliver used in Clause (1)(b) has to be understood in its ordinary broad sense of handing over possession.; otherwise it will be impossible to secure a proper distribution of cloth or yarn of the specified description, which is stated clearly to be the object of the orders passed under that clause. 16. It was argued on behalf of the appellant that the delivery contemplated under Clause 18B ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... the Specific Relief Act is confined to acts done or to be done within the limits of its Ordinary Original Civil Jurisdiction. The High Court has therefore no jurisdiction to issue an injunction prohibiting the Inspector of Municipal Councils and Local Boards from issuing a circular to, and interfering with the functions of, District Election Officers who perform their functions in the mufassal. 21. The reasoning of the learned Judges of the High Court with, reference to the act complained against in that case appears from the following extract of the judgment (p. 237) : It appears that the Inspector has his office in Madras, and we may infer that his circular was issued from his office in Madras. But the interference by that circular with the functions of District Election Officers, which the order purported to prohibit, could never take place within the limits of the Ordinary Original Civil Jurisdiction of this Court, because, as is admitted, District Election Officers perform their functions in the mufassal, outside the limits of the Ordinary Original Civil Jurisdiction of this Court. 22. In the present case, on the same reasoning, though the respondent may have his off ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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