Numerous decisions of the Court rendered over a span of nearly two decades have laid down and reiterated the principles which the courts must apply while considering the question whether to grant an injunction which has the effect of restraining the encashment of a bank guarantee. We do not think it necessary to burden this judgment by referring to all of them. Some of the more recent pronouncements on this point where the earlier decisions have been considered and reiterated are Svenska Handelsbanken Vs. M/s. Indian Charge Chrome and others, , Larsen and Toubro Limited Vs. Maharashtra State Electricity Board and others, , Hindustan Steel Workers Construction Ltd. Vs. G.S. Atwal and Co. (Engineers) Pvt. Ltd., and AIR 1997 1644 (SC) . The general principle which has been laid down by this Court has been summarised in the case of AIR 1997 1644 (SC) as follows: (SCC p.574, para 12)
The law relating to invocation of such bank guarantees is by now well settled. When the course of commercial dealings an unconditional bank guarantee is given or accepted, the beneficiary is entitled to realize such a bank guarantee in terms thereof irrespective of any pending disputes. The bank giving such a guarantee is bound to honour it as per its terms irrespective of any dispute raised by its customer. The very purpose of giving such a bank guarantee would otherwise be defeated. The courts should, Therefore, be slow in granting an injunction to restrain the realization of such a bank guarantee. The courts have carved out only two exceptions. A fraud in connection with such a bank guarantee would vitiate the very foundation of such a bank guarantee. Hence if there is such a fraud of which the beneficiary seeks to take the advantage, he can be restrained from doing so. The second exception relates to cases where allowing the encashment of an unconditional bank guarantee would result in irretrievable harm or injustice to one of the parties concerned. Since in most cases payment of money under such a bank guarantee would adversely affect the bank and its customer at whose instance the guarantee is given, the harm or injustice contemplated under this head must be such an exceptional and irretrievable nature as would override the terms of the guarantee and the adverse effect of such an injunction on commercial dealings in the country.
Dealing with the question of fraud it has been held that fraud has to be an established fraud. The following observations of Sir John Donaldson, M.R. In Bolivinter Oil SA v. Chase Manhattan Bank (1984) 1 All ER 351, CA are apposite:
…The wholly exceptional case where an injunction may be granted is where it is proved that the bank knows that any demand for payment already made or which may thereafter be made will clearly be fraudulent. But the evidence must be clear, both as to the fact of fraud and as to the bank’s knowledge. It would certainly not normally be sufficient that this rests on the uncorroborated statement of the customer, for irreparable damage can be done to a bank’s credit in the relatively brief time which must elapse between the granting of such an injunction and an application by the bank to have it discharged.
The aforesaid passage was approved and followed by this Court in U.P. Cooperative Federation Ltd. Vs. Singh Consultants and Engineers (P) Ltd., .
The second exception to the rule of granting injunction, i.e., the resulting of irretrievable injury, has to be such a circumstance which would make it impossible for the guarantor to reimburse himself, if he ultimately succeeds. This will have to be decisively established and it must be proved to the satisfaction of the court that there would be no possibility whatsoever of the recovery of the amount from the beneficiary, by way of restitution.
In the case of Hindustan Construction Co. Ltd. (supra), the Supreme Court while specifying the need for invoking the bank guarantee strictly as per terms of the bank guarantee and by the authority competent to do so held as under:-
8. Now, a bank guarantee is the common mode of securing payment of money in commercial dealings as the beneficiary, under the guarantee, is entitled to realise the whole of the amount under that guarantee in terms thereof irrespective of any pending dispute between the person on whose behalf the guarantee was given and the beneficiary. In contracts awarded to private individuals by the Government, which involve huge expenditure, as for example, construction contracts, bank guarantees are usually required to be furnished in favor of the Government to secure payments made to the contractor as “advance” from time to time during the course of the contract as also to secure performance of the work entrusted under the contract. Such guarantees are encashable in terms thereof on the lapse of the contractor either in the performance of the work or in paying back to the Government “advance”, the guarantee is invoked and the amount is recovered from the bank. It is for this reason that the courts are reluctant in granting an injunction against the invocation of bank guarantee, except in the case of fraud, which should be an established fraud, or where irretrievable injury was likely to be caused to the guarantor. This was the principle laid down by this Court in various decisions. In U.P. Cooperative Federation Ltd. Vs. Singh Consultants and Engineers (P) Ltd., the law laid down in Bolivinter Oil SA v. Chase Manhattan Bank (1984) 1 All ER 351 was approved and it was held that an unconditional bank guarantee could be invoked in terms thereof by the person in whose favor the bank guarantee was given and the courts would not grant any injunction restraining the invocation except in the case of fraud or irretrievable injury. In Svenska Handelsbanken Vs. M/s. Indian Charge Chrome and others, , Larsen and Toubro Limited Vs. Maharashtra State Electricity Board and others, , Hindustan Steel Workers Construction Ltd. Vs. G.S. Atwal and Co. (Engineers) Pvt. Ltd., , National Thermal Power Corporation Ltd. Vs. M/s. Flowmore Private Ltd. and another, , State of Maharashtra and another Vs. M/s. National Construction Company, Bombay and another, , Hindustan Steel Works Construction Ltd. Vs. Tarapore and Co. and another, as also in AIR 1997 1644 (SC) the same principle has been laid down and reiterated.
9. What is important, Therefore, is that the bank guarantee should be in unequivocal terms, unconditional and recite that the amount would be paid without demur or objection and irrespective of any dispute that might have cropped up or might have been pending between the beneficiary under the bank guarantee or the person on whose behalf the guarantee was furnished. The terms of the bank guarantee are, Therefore, extremely material. Since the bank guarantee represents an independent contract between the bank and the beneficiary, both the parties would be bound by the terms thereof. The invocation, Therefore, will have to be in accordance with the terms of the bank guarantee, or else, the invocation itself would be bad.
As pointed out above, bank guarantee constitutes a separate, distinct and independent contract. This contract is between the Bank and the defendants. It is independent of the main contract between HCCL and the defendants. Since the bank guarantee was furnished to the Chief Engineer and there is no definition of “Chief Engineer” in the bank guarantee nor is it provided therein that “Chief Engineer” would also include Executive Engineer, the bank guarantee could be invoked by none except the Chief Engineer. The invocation was thus wholly wrong and the Bank was under no obligation to pay the amount covered by the “performance guarantee” to the Executive Engineer.
Still further, in the case of Federal Bank Ltd. (supra), the Supreme Court while cautioning the court not issuing injunction restraining encashment of a bank guarantee, specified the same principles i.e. fraud and irretrievable damage as exception to the Rule and further clarified that relationship between the bank issuing letter of credit or paying bank is that of principal and agent. It was affirmed that to bring the case within the exception of fraud, the averment should be clear and that there was knowledge to the bank of the fraud played.
In the case of Daewoo Motors India Ltd. (Supra), the Supreme Court held that for encashment of bank guarantee, the bank cannot have any valid resistance, except of course, in a case of fraud. The bank guarantee furnished by the bank is an unconditional and absolute bank guarantee. It was also stated that once it becomes apparent that there was default to fulfill its obligation as specified in the bank guarantee, invocation of bank guarantee would be proper.
On the analysis of the above law laid down by the Supreme Court in its different judgments, it is clear that injunction against encashment of bank guarantee is an exception and not the rule. Cases of such exceptions would have to be evidenced by documents and pleadings on record and compulsorily should fall within any of the following limited categories:-
i) If there is a fraud in connection with the bank guarantee which would vitiate the very foundation of such guarantee and the beneficiary seeks to take advantage of such fraud.
ii) The applicant, in the facts and circumstance of the case, clearly establishes a case of irretrievable injustice or irreparable damage.
iii) The applicant is able to establish exceptional or special equities of the kind which would prick the judicial conscience of the court.
iv) When the bank guarantee is not invoked strictly in its terms and by the person empowered to invoke under the terms of the guarantee. In other words, the letter of invocation is in apparent violation to the specific terms of the bank guarantee.
The exceptional cases would be few but it could never be stated as an absolute proposition of law that under no circumstances the court could injunct encashment/invocation of a bank guarantee which might have been furnished by a party as an independent contract. A beneficiary is not vested with an unquestionable or unequivocal legal right to encash the bank guarantee on demand. The obligation of the bank furnishing the bank guarantee to pay would be subject to a limited exceptional circumstance afore-noticed. As a matter of rule, the bank would be under obligation to encash the bank guarantee, once it is invoked in its terms. The exceptions afore-noticed are merely indicative of the kind of cases where the court may injunct encashment of a bank guarantee. It is neither possible nor permissible to exhaustively classify the cases where the court would not interfere and where the court would judicially intervene in such matters. Every case would have to be decided keeping in view its peculiar facts and circumstances. Despite the principal contract and bank guarantee being Ejusdem negotii, the bank guarantee is an independent and self-contained contract enforceable on its own terms. Except in the exceptional cases where definite material is available before the court to prima facie satisfy itself that on the basis of the pleadings of the parties; documents supporting has such a plea; the case falls in one or more of the categories afore-indicated, the bank guarantee would be encashable per se. It has an obligation which is not dependent upon adjudication of main disputes. The concept of irretrievable injustice, or damages, or special equities would come into play where the parties to a contract having been provided with internal adjudicative mechanism, attempts to frustrate results of such an internal adjudication by recourse to encashment of bank guarantee, particularly when under the terms and conditions of the contract, including the terms of the guarantee, such determination is ‘final’, of course subject to the limitations spelled out in such contracts. An attempt to over-reach the process of adjudication with intent to cause irreparable prejudice to the other side would be a circumstance which would influence the decision or tilt the special equities in favor of the applicant before the Court.
