Here's a breakdown of a recent court case where M/s. Image Developers' lawsuit got rejected because they skipped a mandatory step in the legal process. Let's dive into what happened.
This case revolves around a development agreement from way back in 1995. M/s. Kamla Landmarc Real Estate Holding Private Limited and some other parties were supposed to redevelop a property and provide new apartments to existing members of a society. But things got complicated over the years.
In 2010, a legal agreement was made, requiring payments and the allocation of apartments. M/s. Image Developers and others claimed that M/s. Kamla Landmarc Real Estate Holding Private Limited broke this agreement by not paying up and failing to give the apartments as promised.
"Defendants nos.1 to 5 in breach of the above assignment agreement unlawfully executed a collusive agreement."
In December 2023, M/s. Kamla Landmarc Real Estate Holding Private Limited allegedly made a sneaky deal with another party, M/s. Moral Mercantile LLP, without fulfilling their original obligations. This led M/s. Image Developers to issue a termination notice in January 2024.
M/s. Image Developers filed a lawsuit in November 2024, claiming they needed urgent help to prevent M/s. Kamla Landmarc Real Estate Holding Private Limited from making deals with others, which could mess up their claims.
Here's where things went wrong. The court found that M/s. Image Developers didn't follow Section 12-A of the Commercial Courts Act, which requires mediation before going to court unless there's an urgent need for temporary help.
"The compliance of Section 12-A(1) of pre-litigation mediation is mandatory."
Judge Jitendra Jain ruled that M/s. Image Developers didn't provide enough evidence of urgency to skip mediation. They waited too long to file the lawsuit and didn't push for immediate help after filing.
"The conduct of the plaintiffs pre and post filing of the suit...no case is made out by the plaintiffs to justify non-compliance of Section 12-A."
The court rejected the lawsuit because M/s. Image Developers didn't follow the mediation requirement. They can try again after following the proper steps, but they missed their chance this time around.
