Notes on the Nature and Scope of an Order of Injunction

An injunction is a preventive relief which is defined as a judicial process by which one who has invaded or is threatening to invade the rights legal or equitable of another, is restrained from continuing of commencing such wrongful act. It is a discretionary remedy.

The claimant for such relief must show that he has a superior equity in his favour entitling him to the grant of injunction. Before an injunction is issued the plaintiff must prove that nuisance to which he objects, is an actionable one and that it is apprehended to cause sub- spatial injury to the property.

Simply because the enjoyment of his property is rendered less beneficial, does not entitle the plaintiff to obtain an injunction. He should show that the defendant owes him legal duty and that the non-performance of that duty materially af­fects his enjoyment.

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An injunction may either be temporary or per­petual; it may be mandatory or interlocutory. A temporary injunction is granted in accordance with the provisions of Order XXIV of the Code of Civil Procedure.

A perpetual injunction is granted under a decreed after a suit has been heard on merits under the provisions contained in the Specific Relief Act. An injunction under section 54 can be issued against a public authority and the Government.

For in­stance, an injunction was issued restraining the Secretary of State from entering through a Revenue Officer into a private land situated in the Madras Presidency against the wishes of the owners for the ex­ercise of the right to regulate distribution of water of rivers and chan­nels flowing through such lands.

An injunction can be issued against a public body with a view to give relief against an act which is in excess of its jurisdiction and is clearly illegal and objectionable and it’s not issuing would mean that the aggrieved person would be left without any remedy while his rights would be trampled under arbitrary and capricious exercise of administrative discretion.

Where one Abdul Majid submitted a build­ing plan to the Municipal authorities for sanction and the permission was as first given then vacated, although in the same locality hundreds of other buildings were allowed to be constructed, an in­junction was issued restraining the municipal administration from in­terfering with the construction of the building in accordance with the plan.