abhijit majumder (practicing company secretary) 03 July 2023

Place of jurisdiction

The respected fellow experts

Sir,

Our Company(Regt Office at Kolkata) entered into a dealership agreement with another company whose registered office are at Mumbai (branch at Kolkata)

We sell our product to them in Kolkata( They take the goods at their branch at Kolkata) but we raise invoice at their Reg office address at Mumbai.

In the dealership agreement clauses, inter alia states the Mumbai High Court will be the competent authority in case of dispute.

We insist them to replace the word ' Mumbai High Court by 'Calcutta High Court' which they denies.

In my view that as per Section 19 of CPC,1908 The Calcutta High Court will be competent authority..

Seeks clarification from eminent experts.

Regards

Abhijit Majumder

Reply Follow

2 Replies

Niharika Lohan 05 July 2023

Hi Abhijeet, I'm Adv. Niharika and here is my take on your query.

Firstly this is a case of Section 20 CPC.
Secondly, case of Satyapal VS Slick Auto AIR 2014 DEL 115 held that Mere sending of Invoice does not arise COA. and thus Mumbai HC cannot have the jurisdiction.

Thirdly according to case of Patel Roadways vs Prasad Trading Co. AIR 1992 SC 1514 the term “place of business” is explained as covering any premises, facilities or installations used for carrying business of enterprise whether or not they are used exclusively for that purpose. It is clarified that place of business may also exist where no premises are available or required for carrying on business of enterprise and it simply has certain amount of space for its disposalthe branch is at Calcutta then explanation of section 20 and where COA arises at place where it has sub branch then as per the case of Canara Bank vs N G Subbaraya Civil Appeal No.4233 OF 2018 the parties cannot render by themselves jurisdiction to a Court which does not have jurisdiction.

I hope your understanding has been broadedend, for further questions you can contact me via email at niharikalohan@yahoo.com