Delhi District Court
Variety Entertainment Pvt. Ltd vs Dagar Enterprises on 7 July, 2022
IN THE COURT OF SH. DIVYAM LILA: CIVIL JUDGE01:
SOUTH WEST DISTRICT: DWARKA COURT: NEW DELHI
Unique case ID No: CSSCJ/699/21
CNR NO. DLSW030014252021
IN THE MATTER OF :
1.VARIETY ENTERTAINMENT PVT. LTD.
(A COMPANY REGISTERED UNDER THE COMPANIES ACT, 1956) (THROUGH ITS AUTHORIZED REPRESENTATIVE) HAVING ITS REGISTERED OFFICE AT 62935/2, SAVITHRI NILAYAM, KHAIRATHABAD, HYDERABAD 500004, TELANGANA
2. SITI NETWORKS LIMITED (A COMPANY REGISTERED UNDER THE COMPANIES ACT, 1956) (THROUGH ITS AUTHORIZED REPRESENTATIVE) HAVING ITS CORPORATE OFFICE AT UG FLOOR, FC 19 & 20, GATE NO.3, SECTOR16A, NOIDA 201301, UTTAR PARDESH.
............... Plaintiffs Versus DAGAR ENTERPRISES THROUGH ITS PROPRIETOR HAVING ITS OFFICE AT: GROUND, 576, MAIN BUS STAND CHOWK, UJWA, SOUTH WEST NEW DELHI - 110073 ................ Defendant Date of filing : 06.08.2021 Date of Institution : 07.08.2021 Date of pronouncing judgment : 07.07.2022 Digitally signed DIVYAM by DIVYAM LILA LILA Date: 2022.07.07 16:06:29 +0530 Civil Suit No.699/21 Variety Entertainment Pvt. Ltd. & anr. vs. Dagar Enterprises. Judgment dated 07.07.2022 Page no. 1 of 15 SUIT FOR RECOVERY OF MONEY.
Ex PARTE JUDGMENT.
Brief facts of the plaint:
1. The Plaintiff No.1 and 2 are Companies incorporated under the provisions of Indian Companies Act, 1956, and the present suit has been signed, verified and instituted on behalf of the Plaintiff No.1 Company by Ms. Bhawya Srivastava, and on behalf of the Plaintiff No.2 Company by Sh. Suresh Kumar V, both of whom are duly Authorized Representatives of the Plaintiff Companies, who are well conversant with the facts of the present suit. Both the Authorized Representatives have been duly authorized by resolutions passed by the Board of Directors of Plaintiff Companies respectively on 22.06.2021 and 01.07.2021, to sign, verify & institute the present suit on behalf of the Plaintiff Companies.
2. That the Plaintiff No.1 Company is engaged in the service of Digitally signed by DIVYAM LILA DIVYAM Date:
LILA 2022.07.07
16:06:38
Civil Suit No.699/21 +0530
Variety Entertainment Pvt. Ltd. & anr. vs. Dagar Enterprises.
Judgment dated 07.07.2022 Page no. 2 of 15 providing various services related to marketing and promotional activities including booking of content of various broadcasters and advertisers for promoting / marketing and displaying the agreed channels (s) / content on the cable television platform / network of the Plaintiff No. 2. The Plaintiff No. 1 also renders consultancy services in all areas of mass communication business.
3. The Plaintiff No. 2 is a registered Multi System Operator and is inter engaged in the business distribution/redistribution/ alia of television signals of broadcasters through its cable networks in various cities/towns/villages situated all across India, and has obtained the requisite MSO License from the relevant authorities. It's business also involves establishing control rooms / head ends in various towns/cities all over India. The plaintiff No.2 is proforma party but being proper and necessary party for the adjudication of present proceedings, hence arrayed as Plaintiff no.2 and no relief is sought by Plaintiff No.2 from the Hon'ble Court through the present suit. Digitally signed by DIVYAM
DIVYAM LILA
Civil Suit No.699/21
LILA Date:
2022.07.07
16:06:46 +0530
Variety Entertainment Pvt. Ltd. & anr. vs. Dagar Enterprises. Judgment dated 07.07.2022 Page no. 3 of 15
4. That vide Agreement Dated 01.12.2017 between the plaintiffs, the Plaintiff No.1 company was required / obligated to enter into negotiations and execute agreements with various Local Channel Operators, Broadcasters and Advertisers to book their advertisement and promote /distribute their content on the Local Channel of Plaintiff No 2 within the Territory of India. In addition to the aforesaid, the Plaintiff No. 1 is also providing support for marketing, sale of time slots, booking of advertisements on all the local cable channels of the Plaintiff No.2 being run across India and collection of advertisements charges from advertisers. The relationship between the plaintiffs is that of Principal to Principal basis.
5. That the Defendant is a proprietorship concern which is a Local Channel Operator who owns and/or has exclusive license for various contents to be distributed through cable television network in the form of two local cable TV channels namely "Apna Dhoom' & Digitally 'Hamara Desi'.
signed by
DIVYAM LILA
DIVYAM Date:
LILA 2022.07.07
16:06:55
+0530
Civil Suit No.699/21
Variety Entertainment Pvt. Ltd. & anr. vs. Dagar Enterprises. Judgment dated 07.07.2022 Page no. 4 of 15
6. That the defendant in order to promote its above mentioned local cable channels approached the Plaintiff No.1 and requested for providing a slot in the frequency of the agreed network/IP Point of Plaintiff No.2 for distribution of its channels in agreed areas of Najafgarh, Delhi.
7. That on 23rd March 2018, the Plaintiff No.1 and the Defendant entered into a written agreement whereby the Plaintiff No.1, in terms of the Agreement had agreed to arrange a slot /frequency under the network of Plaintiff No.2 for carrying / distributing the channel(s) in the agreed Territory.
8. That under the provisions of Clause 2 of aforesaid Agreement, the term of the Agreement was agreed to be from 23.03.2018 to 22.03.2019.
9. That in lieu of providing services as per the terms of the Agreement, the Defendant was obligated to pay the agreed fee as per the terms set out in the Agreement. The agreed amount was required to be paid Digitally signed by DIVYAM DIVYAM LILA Civil Suit No.699/21 LILA Date:
2022.07.07 Variety Entertainment Pvt. Ltd. & anr. vs. Dagar Enterprises. 16:07:05 +0530 Judgment dated 07.07.2022 Page no. 5 of 15 by Defendant to Plaintiff No.1 on monthly basis in advance. It was further agreed between the Plaintiff No.1 and the Defendant that the Plaintiff No.1 shall raise monthly invoice in advance upon the Defendant for payment of fee and the Defendant was obligated to make payment of the invoices amount within a period of 7 days from the date of receipt of the invoice.
10. That as per the provisions contained in Clause 7 of the Agreement, any payment made by the Defendant was to be first adjusted to the prior dues on "First In First Out" (FIFO) basis.
11. That under the terms of the Agreement dated 23.03.2018, the plaintiffs provided its services to the Defendant to its full satisfaction, and consequently the Plaintiff No.1 raised monthly invoices upon the Defendant in accordance with the provisions of the Agreement as under:
S.no. Invoice No. Date Period Amount 1 6060000822 31.03.18 23.03.18 - 31.03.18 14,516.01/- 2 6060001811 30.04.18 01.04.18-30.04.18 49,999.90/- Digitally signed by DIVYAM Civil Suit No.699/21 DIVYAM LILA LILA
Variety Entertainment Pvt. Ltd. & anr. vs. Dagar Enterprises.
Date:
2022.07.07 16:07:14 +0530 Judgment dated 07.07.2022 Page no. 6 of 15 3 6060001852 31.05.18 01.05.18- 31.05.18 49,999.97/- 4 6060002279 30.06.18 01.06.18-30.06.18 49,999.90/-
Total 1,64,515.78/-
12. That the above said Invoices issued by the plaintiff no.1 were duly raised upon the defendant with regards to the Charges of providing the desired services / slot in the frequency of the cable network of Plaintiff No.2 and the Defendant is in due receipt of the same.
13. That it is humbly submitted that the aforesaid invoices have been received and accepted by the Defendant without any protest and/or objection, the Defendant has paid a sum of Rs. 50,000/ (Rupees Fifty Thousand Only) against the total invoiced amount of Rs.
1,64,515.78/. Therefore, as per the Statement of Accounts maintained by the Plaintiff No. 1 in the normal course of its business, a sum of Rs.1,14,515.78/ (Rupees One Lakh Fourteen Thousand Five Hundred and Fifteen and Seventy Eight Paise Only) is outstanding and due from the Defendant, as on 31.05.2021, against the invoices raised by the Plaintiff No. 1, and the same is Digitally signed Civil Suit No.699/21 DIVYAM by DIVYAM LILA Variety Entertainment Pvt. Ltd. & anr. vs. Dagar Enterprises. LILA Date:
2022.07.07 Judgment dated 07.07.2022 16:07:24 +0530 Page no. 7 of 15 liable to be discharged by the Defendant.
14. That the Plaintiff No.1 is maintaining a running account of the transactions entered into between itself and defendant and as per the Ledger account of the Plaintiff No.1 there exists an outstanding amount of Rs.1,14,515.78/ (Rupees One Lakh Fourteen Thousand Five Hundred Fifteen and Seventy Eight paisa only), which the defendant is liable to pay to the plaintiffs.
15. The Plaintiffs' services were duly utilized by the Defendant to its total satisfaction in furtherance to its business activities and no complaint with regard to the services provided under the Agreement was ever raised by the Defendant.
16. The Plaintiff No. 1 continuously followed up with the Defendant inter alia, seeking the payment of outstanding dues, and solely on their assurance to clear the outstanding and continued to provide the Services (as per the Agreement) to the Defendant. It is stated that the officials/representatives of the Defendant repeatedly assured and Digitally signed by DIVYAM DIVYAM LILA Date:
Civil Suit No.699/21 LILA 2022.07.07 Variety Entertainment Pvt. Ltd. & anr. vs. Dagar Enterprises. 16:07:34 +0530 Judgment dated 07.07.2022 Page no. 8 of 15 promised the Plaintiffs to release the entire outstanding dues but failed to abide by the same. It is further submitted that despite having regular meetings with the representatives of the Defendant and repeated requests for the release of outstanding dues, the Defendant has grossly failed to abide by the promises made to the Plaintiff No. 1 and clear the outstanding dues.
17. That it is further submitted that the Defendant has grossly breached the terms and conditions of the Agreement. Furthermore, the Defendant with the fraudulent and malafide intentions induced the Plaintiffs to part with their services which clearly shows that the Defendant never had the intention from the very beginning to clear the outstanding amount. Thus, the Defendant has played fraud upon the Plaintiffs, thereby causing wrongful gain to itself and wrongful loss to the Plaintiffs and committed the offence of cheating and rendered itself liable to be prosecuted for the same.
18. That on account of the continuous breach of the terms of the Digitally signed by DIVYAM LILA DIVYAM Date:
Civil Suit No.699/21 LILA 2022.07.07 16:07:44 Variety Entertainment Pvt. Ltd. & anr. vs. Dagar Enterprises. +0530 Judgment dated 07.07.2022 Page no. 9 of 15 Agreement by the Defendant, the Plaintiff No. 1 was constrained to terminate the Agreement / Understanding and displace/ discontinue the channels of the Defendant from the network of the Plaintiff No. 2 w.e.f. 01.07.2018.
19. That the Defendant, till date, despite repeated requests and reminders by the Plaintiffs, through telephonic conversation etc., has not paid the balance outstanding amount of Rs.1,14,515.78/ (Rupees One Lakh Fourteen Thousand Five Hundred Fifteen and Seventy Eight paisa only).
20. It is further submitted that on the aforesaid amount of Rs.1,14,515.78/ (Rupees One Lakh Fourteen Thousand Five Hundred fifteen and seventy eight paisa only), the Defendant is further liable to pay interest pendentelite and future @ 18% per annum from the date of filing the present suit till its realization. The interest amount calculated from respective days of default till 31st May, 2021 is Rs.60,982/. Hence, the total recoverable outstanding Digitally signed by DIVYAM LILA DIVYAM Civil Suit No.699/21 LILA Date:
2022.07.07 Variety Entertainment Pvt. Ltd. & anr. vs. Dagar Enterprises. 16:07:53 +0530 Judgment dated 07.07.2022 Page no. 10 of 15 amount from the defendant till the 31st May, 2021 is Rs. 1,75,497.78/ (Rupees One Lakh Seventy Five Thousand Four Hundred Ninety Seven and Seventy Eight Paisa only).
21. Hence, plaintiff seeks the following reliefs:
i. Pass a Decree in favour of the Plaintiff No.1 and against the Defendant for the Recovery of amount of Rs. 1,75,497.78/ (Rupees One Lakh Seventy Five Thousand Four Hundred Ninety Seven and Seventy Eight Paise only) to be paid to the plaintiff No.1;
ii. Pass a Decree in favour of the Plaintiff No.1 and against the Defendant for Recovery of pendentlite and future interest on the amount of Rs. 1,75,497.78/ (Rupees One Lakh Seventy Five Thousand Four Hundred Ninety Seven and Seventy Eight paise only) at the rate of 18% per annum, till the date of its actual realization, to be paid to the plaintiff No.1;
iii. Costs of the suit.
Service of summons and defendant exparte:
22. Summons of the suit were served upon the defendant through email and whatsapp on 17.8.2021 and defendant was again served through his wife on 11.04.2022. No WS has been filed by the defendant, Digitally signed by DIVYAM Civil Suit No.699/21 DIVYAM LILA Date:
Variety Entertainment Pvt. Ltd. & anr. vs. Dagar Enterprises. LILA 2022.07.07 16:08:01 Judgment dated 07.07.2022 +0530 Page no. 11 of 15 hence, the right of defence was struck off and the defendant proceeded exparte on 29.04.2022.
Plaintiff's ExParte Evidence:
23. The plaintiff only examined one witness on its behalf i.e. the PW1 stepped into the witness box and examined herself as PW1. In his testimony, PW1 tendered her evidence by way of affidavit being Ex.PW1/A and also relied upon the following documents:
1) Certified Copy of board resolution dated 22.6.2021 is Ex.PW1/1.
2) Copy of agreement dated 23.3.2018 executed between plaintiff no.1 and defendant is Ex.PW1/2 (OSR).
3) Copy of Four invoices dt. 31.3.2018, 30.4.2018, 31.5.2018 and 30.6.2018 are collectively exhibited as Ex.PW1/3(colly).
4) Copy of ledger account is Ex.PW1/4.
5) Copy of interest calculation sheet is Ex.PW1/5.
6) certificate under section 65 B Evidence Act is Ex.PW1/6. No Cross examination was done as the defendant had already been proceeded ex parte.
24. PE was closed on 07.07.2022, and exparte final arguments were heard today itself.
Digitally signed
DIVYAM by DIVYAM LILA Date: LILA 2022.07.07 16:08:10 +0530 Civil Suit No.699/21
Variety Entertainment Pvt. Ltd. & anr. vs. Dagar Enterprises. Judgment dated 07.07.2022 Page no. 12 of 15 Ex parte Arguments:
25. During the Exparte arguments, Ld. Counsel for plaintiff adverted to four invoices, commercial agreement between the parties, statement of account and interest calculation sheet. He further submitted that the defendant was served, but he chose not to defend the suit.
26. Ld. Counsel for plaintiff argued that the suit of the plaintiff should be decreed as the testimony of PW1 remains uncontroverted along with the corroborative evidence on the record. Findings and reasoning:
27. Heard. Perused. Considered.
28. The plaintiff has sufficiently discharged the burden of proof placed upon him by virtue of Section 101 Indian Evidence Act, 1872. The PW1 has testified in the affidavit of evidence that the plaintiff and defendant had entered into the commercial agreement with respect to licensing of the airwaves for broadcasting of the channels and that the defendant has not paid the invoices raised on such agreement and Digitally signed by DIVYAM DIVYAM LILA Date:
Civil Suit No.699/21 LILA 2022.07.07 16:08:20 Variety Entertainment Pvt. Ltd. & anr. vs. Dagar Enterprises. +0530 Judgment dated 07.07.2022 Page no. 13 of 15 therefore has defaulted in the same. As corroborative evidence, PW1 has also duly proved the acknowledgment of its liability on part of the defendant, by relying upon Ex. PW 1/1 to Ex.PW1/4.
29. The testimony of PW1 has remained uncontroverted. Reference can be placed upon the Judgement of Hon'ble High Court of Delhi in M/s. Eco Lab I.MC.N vs. Eco Labs Ltd., 2011(185) DLT 664, wherein it was held that if the defendant has failed to crossexamine the plaintiff, the evidence of plaintiff is to be presumed to be correct. In view of the fact that the testimony of PW1 has remained unrebutted, his testimony on oath is accepted as correct. There is no reason to disbelieve the same.
30. In any case, since the defendant has never appeared and chose not to file WS, it can be safely presumed that he has no defence to offer. The suit of the plaintiff is well within the limitation. Conclusion:
31. The suit of the plaintiffs are therefore decreed in the favour of the Digitally signed by DIVYAM DIVYAM LILA LILA Date:
2022.07.07 16:08:29 +0530 Civil Suit No.699/21 Variety Entertainment Pvt. Ltd. & anr. vs. Dagar Enterprises. Judgment dated 07.07.2022 Page no. 14 of 15 plaintiffs and against the defendant, the Defendant is directed to pay Rs.1,14,516/ to the plaintiffs with the interest @ 18 % p.a. from 30.06.2018 till the date of payment.
32. Costs of the suit are also awarded in favour of the plaintiffs.
33. Decree sheet be prepared accordingly.
34. File be consigned to Record Room after compliance with due formalities.
ANNOUNCED IN THE OPEN Digitally
signed by
DIVYAM LILA
DIVYAM
COURT ON 07.07.2022
Date:
LILA 2022.07.07
16:08:38
+0530
(DIVYAM LILA)
CIVIL JUDGE01(SW)/DWARKA COURTS
NEW DELHI
Civil Suit No.699/21
Variety Entertainment Pvt. Ltd. & anr. vs. Dagar Enterprises. Judgment dated 07.07.2022 Page no. 15 of 15