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(xv) The amount to which the petitioner was entitled, from Respondent No. 1, was far in excess of the cumulative value of the Bank Guarantees submitted by the petitioner. Relying on 22017 SCC OnLine Del 12561 3(2011) EWHC 657 (TCC) 4(2013) EWHC 3201 (TCC) the judgement, rendered by this Bench in Halliburton Offshore Services Inc. v. Vedanta Ltd5, the petitioner contends that special equities and irretrievable injustice justify the grant of injunction, under Section 9 of the 1996 Act. I may note, here, that Halliburton Offshore Services Inc.5 was an ad interim order, rendered by me, which has lost its value as a precedent, as the petition, in which the said order was rendered, was subsequently disposed of, vide a detailed judgement of a coordinate Bench.

whose instance the bank gave the guarantee, were the injunction not granted, or

(c) special equities, of which the possibility of irretrievable injustice is itself one.

(v) "Irretrievable injustice", for this purpose, has to be of such an exceptional nature as would override the terms of the guarantee and the adverse effect of the grant of such injunction on commercial dealings in the country.

29. The above legal position stands reiterated in Yograj Infras. Ltd. V. Ssangyong Eng. & Construction Co. Ltd30 and Adani Agri Fresh Ltd v. Mahaboob Sharif31.

30. Thus far, the position in law appears to be crystal clear.

31. Some scope for debate, however, arises, on the concept of "special equities". The decisions of the Supreme Court - perhaps, advisedly - do not delineate, in precise contours, the ambit of the expression. Significantly, Fenner India Ltd23 regards "irretrievable injustice" as a specie of the "special equities" genus, whereas Standard Chartered Bank25 treat "special equities" and "irretrievable 26(1996) 5 SCC 450 27(1999) 8 SCC 436 28(2006) 6 SCC 293 29(2016) 10 SCC 46 302012 (2) SCALE 58: JT 2012 (2) SC 17 31(2016) 14 SCC 517 injustice" as distinct circumstances, either of which would justify injuncting the invocation of a bank guarantee."Irretrievable injustice", to reiterate, has to be of such a magnitude as would override the twin considerations of the express terms of the guarantee and the adverse effect, from the grant of injunction, on commercial dealings in the country. "Special equities", too, must, therefore, be so "special" so as to prevail over these two considerations, otherwise paramount while examining a prayer for injunction against invocation of a bank guarantee. While, therefore, examining whether "special equities"

41. The jurisdiction of the Court to interfere, in such cases, is, however, not irrevocably foreclosed. In cases of egregious fraud, irretrievable injustice, or special equities, the Court can still step in and injunct the invocation of the bank guarantee(s).

42. Courts cannot afford to be over-aware of the use, in the above principle, of the qualifying adjectives "egregious", "irretrievable" and "special". It is only fraud which is egregious in nature, injustice which is irretrievable and equities which are special, the existence of which would justify the stay of invocation of an unconditional bank guarantee. In each case, the circumstance must be pleaded and proved, by cogent evidence.