Delhi High Court imposes ₹10 lakh costs on company for non-prosecution of its 15-year-old suit

The Delhi High Court recently imposed costs of ₹10 lakh on a manufacturing company for not pursuing its trademark infringement suit for over eight years [M/S Rana Steels v. M/S Ran India Steels Pvt. Ltd].Justice Prathiba M Singh noted the suit was last listed in 2015 before the Court and for the last eight years, it was listed only before the Joint Registrar.Observing that the suit itself is more than 15 years old and substantive issues have already been settled between the parties, the Court said there was no reason for the plaintiff Rana Steels to keep the matter pending after a division bench order of 2012.“Considering that this is a commercial trademark matter and substantial time, man power and costs have been incurred by the Defendant, and substantial judicial time has also been expended in this matter, for the last 15 years and over ten years have elapsed since the passing of the Division Bench’s order, costs ought to be paid,” the Court said..It accordingly ordered the plaintiff to pay costs of ₹10 lakh out of which ₹5 lakh has to be paid to the defendant Ran India Steels and ₹5 lakh has to be deposited with the Delhi High Court Legal Service Committee.In the suit filed in 2007, Rana Steels was granted an ex parte injunction against Ran India Steels over the use of the mark ‘Rana’. Both the companies were manufacturing steel rolled products..In appeal before a division bench, the companies agreed that Ran India Steels could sell its products under ‘RanIndia’ mark as one word. However, Rana Steels later accused the Ran India Steels of selling steel stock weighing approximately 3,000 MT under the mark ‘RANA TOR’ despite the injunction order. The matter was left to be considered by the single-judge.The Court said for one reason or the other, the matter has remained pending before the Joint Registrar. It added that plaintiff also has not pursued its suit for damages or any other relief.On September 20, the counsel representing Rana Steels sought discharge from the case on ground of not receiving instructions from the client. The Court said there is no other counsel appearing for the plaintiff and even the authorised signatory is not present before the Court.“In this background, the Court does not deem it necessary to keep the suit pending. The Plaintiff does not appear to have any interest in pursuing the present suit as it has not given instructions to the ld. Counsel,” it added. While directing that the costs be paid within eight weeks, the Court said the defendant and Delhi High Court Legal Service Committee can take necessary action to recover the costs including by filing proceedings against the promoters/officials of the Rana Steels, if required“The suit is dismissed for non-prosecution in the above terms,” Justice Singh ordered.Advocate Pankaj Kumar filed an application seeking discharge in the case on the ground of not receiving instructions from the plaintiff.Advocate Bhuvneshwar Tyagi represented the defendant[Read Order]