Appellate courts must give cogent reasons before setting aside interim injunctions.

The petitioner-plaintiff filed O.S. No. 124/2024 seeking a permanent injunction concerning the suit schedule property and sought temporary relief under Order XXXIX Rules 1 and 2 CPC.

The Trial Court granted an injunction restraining defendant Nos. 1 and 2 from interfering with the petitioner’s possession or putting up construction on the ‘B’ schedule property, after considering, among other materials, an e-Khata, a registered sale deed dated 16 April 1990, photographs, a sketch, and the defendants’ agreement of sale.

In M.A. No. 7/2025, the Senior Civil Judge set aside the injunction.

The petitioner challenged that appellate order under Articles 226 and 227 of the Constitution.

Whether the First Appellate Court had adequate grounds to set aside the Trial Court’s temporary injunction without examining the material on which the Trial Court had relied.

Whether the appellate order should be set aside and the matter remitted for fresh consideration, with interim protection continuing meanwhile.

The Court considered the temporary-injunction application under Order XXXIX Rules 1 and 2 of the Code of Civil Procedure, under which a court may grant interim injunctive relief on the material before it.

It applied the principle that appellate interference with a Trial Court’s prima facie assessment must be supported by adequate reasons addressing the relevant material; substituting a different view without examining that assessment is insufficient.

No precedent was cited.

The Trial Court had considered documents produced by both sides before finding a prima facie case and granting temporary relief.

The First Appellate Court, however, set aside the injunction without examining those materials and without giving adequate reasons for disturbing the Trial Court’s assessment.

The High Court therefore found the appellate order unsustainable, but directed the First Appellate Court to reconsider the matter rather than finally determine the injunction application itself.

The High Court set aside the order dated 11 April 2025 in M.A. No. 7/2025 and directed the First Appellate Court to rehear and decide the matter afresh after hearing both parties and in accordance with law.

Pending that decision, the Trial Court’s order dated 20 February 2025 continues to operate.