' Habibur Rehman, the respondent-plaintiff, was granted a contract by the Executive Engineer Highway Division, Haripur' for the construction and black-topping of Najafpur-Kohala-Bala Road between KM. Nos. 1 to 4 at Rs,24,75,300. The Contractor accordingly started work on the road and completed the construction and black-topping of 3 kilometres of the road and was paid a sum of Rs,4,00,000 (four lacs) as part payment. Afterwards the Executive Engineer cancelled contract from the name of the plaintiff and stopped him from doing any further construction work on the Road and the Contractor was thus obliged to institute a suit before the civil Court at Haripur, that notwithstanding the rescission of the contract from his name by the petitioners he could legally proceed with the work on the road in terms of his contract and the Department was bound to make him payment against the work done in accordance with the terms of agreement.
Simultaneously, the plaintiff filed an application before the Court for the grant of a temporary injunction that the petitioners may be restrained to stop him from doing work on the Road which after hearing the parties on both sides was dismissed by the Civil Judge, Ist Class, Haripur on 15-6- 1994 but on appeal the Additional District Judge passed an interim order on 18-10-1994 on the acceptance of the appeal and restrained the petitioners from re-calling the tender of the disputed work and giving the contract to some one else till the decision of the case. Hence this petition under section 115, C.P.C. By Executive Engineer Highway, Haripur etc.
2. I have heard the learned advocates on both sides. As the record would show the plaintiff was assigned a contract for the construction and black-topping of four kilometers of Najafpur-Kohala- Bala-Road by the petitioners on 18-7-1992. He thereafter started work on the road and according to his pleadings completed construction and black-topping of 3 kilometres and was paid a sum of Rs,4,00,000 by the petitioners as part-payment for the work done. However, the plaintiff could not complete total construction work on the road within the stipulated period on which the petitioners stopped the work and cancelled the contract from his name. The Contractor as such requested for the grant of an interim order that re-tender of the work should not be done by the Department till the final decision of his suit. The Trial Court did not accede to the request but on appeal an order was passed by the learned Additional District Judge as aforesaid.
3. The contract in the name of the plaintiff-respondent has been cancelled before the institution of the suit. If re-tender of work is not allowed the work already done on the road would go waste and the Government Department shall incur huge losses. The plaintiff in his suit at the most could ask for the payment of his bill against the work done coupled with any amount of damages if so sustained. It cannot be, therefore, said that this is a case where the loss, if any, would be irreparable and not countable in terms of money. The contract having been rescinded from the name of the plaintiff before the filing of his suit no balance of convenience or inconvenience did lie, even if he had any good prima facie case, that his request for the grant of an interim relief could be considered. The stoppage of the remaining construction work on the road by restraining a Government Department from the performance of its public duties through a Court order should have been, therefore, refused as required by section 56(d) of the Specific Relief Act, 1877 in the circumstances of the case the relief being a discretionary one.
4. The learned appellate Court in this view of the matter which I take, has erred by granting the aforesaid temporary relief to the respondent-plaintiff in a case like this and acted in the exercise of jurisdiction illegally or with material irregularity. The impugned judgment and order is accordingly set aside on the acceptance of this revision petition and the order passed by the learned Trial Court on 15-6-1994 restored.