SC stays HC order directing producer of Rajnikanth’s film 'Lingaa' to deposit Rs 10 crores
New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Thursday stayed an order of the Madurai bench of the Madras High Court directing the producer of Rajnikanth's Tamil film 'Lingaa' to deposit Rs 10 crore as guarantee to facilitate the film’s release on December 12, 2014.
Acting on a petition from film director K.R. Ravi, the High Court had directed 'Lingaa' producer Rockline Venkatesh to deposit Rs 5 crore in cash in Indian Bank and give a bank guarantee for the balance amount. The High Court gave this direction since the petitioner claimed that 'Lingaa’ was based on his story 'Mullai Vanam 999’.
The Bench comprising Justices Dipak Misra and Prafulla C. Pant stayed the order on an appeal from Rockline Venkatesh after hearing his senior counsel Mohan Parasaran had issued notice to the respondent Director Mr. Ravi seeking his response.
In his appeal, Rockline Venkatesh said the High Court had entertained a civil dispute through a writ petition, which was admittedly without its jurisdiction. The High Court had not assigned any reason for passing such an order. He said the High Court had invoked the principles of justice, equity and good conscience and directed him to deposit Rs 10 crores with the High Court Registry even while holding that the rights of the parties should be determined in a civil dispute.
The appellant said he had invested several crores of rupees in the film 'Lingaa’ with a huge star cast and he denied any knowledge of the respondent’s claim that copyright of his feature film 'Mullai Vanam 999’ had been infringed by him. He contended that there were several stories and articles on this subject and the respondent had wrongly concluded that he had a copyright over the topic in question. He said such a claim was totally untenable, perverse and frivolous. Contending that the High Court order had caused irreparable loss, harm and reputation, he prayed for a direction to quash the impugned order and an interim stay of its operation.
