Gujarat HC Orders Fresh Hearing Of Solar Firm’s Injunction Bid After Three Defendants Got No Reasonable Chance To Respond; Status Quo Continues

Respondent No. 1, the original plaintiff, filed an injunction application below Exhibit 5 in Regular Civil Suit No. 23 of 2026.

The petitioners, original defendant Nos. 4 to 6, sought time to respond, but the Trial Court declined their request and partly allowed the injunction application on 25 August 2026 without their written objections or reply.

The petitioners challenged that order in a civil miscellaneous appeal; the Appellate Court’s order dated 17 October 2026 did not grant relief, leading them to invoke the High Court’s jurisdiction under Article 227 of the Constitution.

The petition was brought under Article 227 of the Constitution of India, which provides the High Court’s supervisory jurisdiction over subordinate courts.

The Court applied the procedural principle that parties must receive a reasonable opportunity to be heard before an interim injunction application affecting them is adjudicated.

The High Court found that the petitioners had not received a reasonable opportunity to respond to the injunction application before the Trial Court decided it.

It also observed that the Appellate Court had not exercised its discretion despite the relevant circumstances being brought to its attention.

Without expressing any view on the merits of the injunction application, the Court set aside both orders and directed the Trial Court to hear the parties and decide the application afresh, uninfluenced by the earlier orders.

In view of the respondent’s request, it preserved the status quo until the fresh decision.

The High Court quashed the Appellate Court’s order dated 17 October 2026 and the Trial Court’s order dated 25 August 2026, restored the Exhibit 5 injunction application to the Trial Court’s file, and directed a fresh decision after a reasonable opportunity of hearing to all concerned parties.

The prevailing status quo was to continue until that decision; the Rule was made absolute to that extent, with no order as to costs.