Gujarat High Court
Ahmedabad: Gujarat High Court on Tuesday upheld a lower court’s order in a two-decade-old case, directing a film distribution company to repay Rs 10 lakh with interest to a sub-distributor who had made the payment for release of a Hindi film in Saurashtra region, but the film reels were never supplied for exhibition. Three years later, Maruti Enterprise sued Shivani Films for recovery of the amount and demanded 18% interest. A court in Porbandar directed Shivani Films to refund the amount with 6% running interest. Shivani Films approached the HC in 2012 against the Porbandar court’s decree, raising not only the issue of jurisdiction of the court but also asserting that a Mumbai court should have jurisdiction to adjudicate the issue.
HC said, “It is proved the defendant, having breached the terms and conditions of the contract, was liable to return the benefit received under the agreement, and that the learned trial court had rightly decided the suit in favour of the plaintiff.” Justice J C Doshi noted that Shivani Films had failed to rebut payment receipts or show repayment.