9911796707
TMI Blog1997 (10) TMI 419X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... tion. Accordingly, the hearing in the matter was circumscribed to the moot question about territorial jurisdiction of this Court under Article 226 of the Constitution. 2. A synoptical resumption of the relevant facts necessary to appreciate the moot question raised across the bar, may be set out and they are that the Divisional Manager, Central Railways with its Head Office stationed at Jabalpur invited applications from respectable and experienced caterers vide advertisement dated 10-11-1996 (Annexure 2 to the writ petition) for grant of catering contract in respect of Manikpur Railway Station, that the petitioner and opposite party No. 3 were amongst the applicants for grant of Theka appertaining to Manikpur Railway Station for which i ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... e territorial jurisdiction of this Court. Sri V.B. Singh, appearing for the petitioner urged that the situs of contract constitutes an integral part of 'cause of action' in a writ petition like the one in hand. 4. According to Article 226 of the Constitution as it originally stood, the High Courts had jurisdiction to issue prerogative writs, orders or directions for enforcement of fundamental rights or any other purpose to any person or authority or in a given case to any Government, whether Union or State, resident in or located in the territory in relation to which the High Court exercises jurisdiction. The concept of 'cause of action' was completely alien to Article 226 and it was so held by the Supreme Court in Electi ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... d to the result that only the High Court of Punjab would have jurisdiction to entertain petitions under Article 226 against the Union of India and those other authorities which were located in Delhi. The plea of inconvenience had already culminated in being rejected by the Supreme Court in the cases aforestated and accordingly, Parliament supervened and inserted Clause (1 -A) in Article 226 by the Constitution (15th Amendment) Act 1963, renumbered as clause 2 by the Constitution (42nd Amendment) Act, 1976, introducing concept of 'cause of action' for the purposes of determining the territorial jurisdiction of High Courts. Clause (2) of Article 226 of the Constitution, being relevant for the purposes of discussion is quoted below. ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... in State of Rajasthan v. Swaika Property AIR 1985 SC 1289, wherein it was held, with reference to Section 20(c) of the Code of Civil Procedure, as under : 11. The jurisdiction of the Court in matter of a contract will depend on the situs of the contract and the cause of action arising through connecting factors. 12. A cause of action means every fact, which if traversed, it would be necessary for the plaintiff to prove in order to support his right to a judgment of the Court. In other words, it is a bundle of facts which taken with the law applicable to them, gives the plaintiff a right to relief against the defendant. It must include some act done by the defendant since in the absence of such an act, no cause of action can possibly ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... r Staff, New Delhi AIR 1988 All 36, a Division Bench of this Court has expounded the following proposition of law (at page 39) : A right of action arises as soon as there is an invasion of right but 'cause of action and 'right of action' are not synonymous or interchangeable. A right of action is a right to enforce a cause of action (American Jurisprudence II Edn. Vol. I). A person residing anywhere in the country being aggrieved by an order of Government, Central or State or authority or person may have a right of action on law but it can be enforced or the jurisdiction under Article 226 can be invoked of that High Court only within whose territorial limits the cause of action wholly or in part arises. The cause of action a ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... petition, all that the petitioner has to do is to establish that the contracts have been awarded to Opposite Party No. 3 in breach of the conditions particularly the condition appertaining to experience stipulated in the advertisement and those contained in the new catering policy. The place where the contract is to be performed would have no bearing on the decision on the relevant question aforestated. In this view of the matter, the situs of contracts in the instant case, has no nexus with the alleged illegality in award of contract, the decision in respect of which was taken at Jabalpur and, therefore, we are of the firm view that no part of cause of action arose within the territorial jurisdiction of the Court. We may, however, hasten t ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
|
