Madras High Court: In applications filed by global pharmaceutical manufacturer, Swiss Garnier Life Science (‘Swiss Garnier’) to waive the requirement to pay the 75% pre-deposit under Section 19 of the Micro, small, Medium, Enterprises Development Act, 2006 (‘MSMED Act, 2006’), K. Kumaresh Babu, J. allowed the applications, and the 75% pre-deposit was dispensed with the requirement for payment of deposit contemplated under the Act.
Swiss Granier contended that the statutory Tribunal under the MSMED Act, 2006 does not have jurisdiction to decide the dispute between the parties. The purchase orders which were placed upon the respondent are related to the year 2016-17 and at that relevant point of time, the respondent was not a supplier registered under the MSMED Act, 2006. The respondent had only registered himself as a supplier under the MSMED Act, 2006 in the year 2018. Therefore, the reference to the statutory authority as per the Act would itself be bad in law, as the statutory authority does not have jurisdiction to deal with any dispute that had arisen prior to the registration as supplier under the Act.
The Court prima facie satisfied with the claim made by Swiss Garnier that the statutory authority under the MSMED Act, 2006 would only have the jurisdiction to entertain a dispute when the supplier had been registered under the MSMED Act, 2006.
Thus. the Court allowed the applications, and the 75% pre-deposit was dispensed with the requirement for payment of deposit contemplated under S. 19 of the MSMED Act, 2006.
[Swiss Garniers Genexiaa Sciences Pvt. Ltd. v Avant Garde Cleanroom & Engg Solutions Pvt. Ltd., A.Nos.2059 & 2060 of 2024, decided on 09-09-2024]
Advocates who appeared in this case :
For Applicant: Senior Counsel Mr. M. Sricharan Rangarajan, o/b Lakshmikumaran and Sridharan Attorneys assisted by Advocates Krithika Jaganathan, Kiran Manokaran, Nirupama Shankar, Deepak Krishnan and Gayathri Rajagopalan.
For Respondents: Senior Counsel Mr. P. V. Balasubramanian
