S. Radhakrishnan JUDGMENT
S. Radhakrishnan, J.
1. By this appeal, the appellant Company is challenging an order dated 29th March, 2003 whereby the learned Judge of the Bombay City Civil Court has dismissed the Notice of Motion and has declined to grant any interim relief in favour of the Appellant-Company. It may be noted here that in this matter, the ad-interim relief in terms of prayer Clauses (a) and (b) of the Notice of Motion No. 4541 of 2001 was granted by the Bombay City Civil Court in favour of the Appellants on 23rd October, 2001. The said prayer Clauses (a) and (b) of the Notice of Motion No. 4541 of 2001 read as under :--
(a) That pending the hearing and final disposal of the suit defendants and the other activists of the Narmada Bachao Andolan be restrained by an order and injunction of this Hon'ble Court from making any statements, declarations, utterances, writings and publications in the media regarding the Maheshwar Project which are defamatory of the plaintiff.
(b) That pending the hearing and final disposal of the suit the Defendants and/or other activists of the Narmada Bachao Andolan be restrained by an order and injunction of this Hon'ble Court from issuing defamatory Press Notes against the Plaintiffs or holding demonstrations with defamatory material or leading or participating in moriches and agitations against the plaintiffs.
It may be noted here that the injunction granted in terms of prayer Clauses (a) and (b) of the Notice of Motion No. 4541 of 2001 is continuing till today.
2. The brief facts are that the Appellant Company Shree Maheshwar Hydel Power Corporation Limited is implementing the Hydro Electric Project known as Maheshwar Hydro Electric Project which is being implemented pursuant to the Narmada Water Dispute Tribunal Award. The said Award relates to the various projects to be constructed in the Narmada River basin, and one of them is the Maheshwar Hydro-Electric Project.
3. It appears that initially, the Maheshwar Project was taken up by the Narmada Valley Development Authority (NVDA) for implementation. However, the Narmada Valley Development Authority could not effectively implement and construct the same and hence, it was handed over to the Madhya Pradesh Electricity Board (MPEB). The Government of Madhya Pradesh, as a part of the overall Government of India guidelines to encourage private participation in the electricity sector, chose to invite private parties. Accordingly the private tenders/bids were invited. In the said bids the S. Kumars group had also competed, and on their successful bid being made, the S. Kumars group formed into the present Appellant Company known as Shree Maheshwar Hydel Power Corporation Limited. Appellant Company was incorporated under the Companies Act, 1956 on 11th May, 1993 as a Generating Company with the sole purpose to develop, build, own and operate the 400 MW Maheshwar Hydro Electric Project located in Khargaon District, South-Western region of Madhya Pradesh.
4. Subsequent thereto, after a detailed evaluation the project was awarded to the S. Kumars Group and a Memorandum of Understanding was executed between the S. Kumars Limited and the State Government of Madhya Pradesh on 28th July, 1993. Pursuant thereto, the Appellant Company had signed the Power Project Agreement with the Madhya Pradesh Electricity Board on 11-11-1994, which was subsequently amended on 27-5-1996. Thereafter, to implement the aforesaid project, on 1-10-1996 the Appellant Company had issued a Public Notice under Section 29 of the Electricity Act, 1948 thereby inviting objections, if any, for the development of the project, however, no objections were received by the Appellant Company. On 31-12-1996 the Appellant Company obtained all clearances from the statutory as well as non-statutory bodies including the Techno-Economic Clear........