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M/S Shivhare Roadlines Pvt. Ltd. and Another v. Madhya Pradesh Electricity Board

Special Leave Petition (Civil) · 2026 INSC 556Decided 26 May 2026
SLP(C) No.-005432 - 2026
Justice J.K. Maheshwari · Justice Atul S. Chandurkar

Background

In 1992, the Madhya Pradesh Electricity Board gave two tractor trailers on hire to the petitioner company for monthly charges of Rs.55,000 and Rs.35,000. After initially paying, the petitioners stopped paying hire charges from 1994 onward, prompting the Board to sue for recovery in 1998. The petitioners denied liability and raised a counter-claim of over Rs.73 lakh for transportation bills allegedly owed to them. The Trial Court decreed in the Board's favour in 2011 for the depreciated value of the vehicles, outstanding rent, and ongoing compensation with interest, while rejecting the counter-claim as time-barred; the Madhya Pradesh High Court upheld this decree in a first appeal, leading to the present Special Leave Petition before the Supreme Court.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court noted that despite a mediation attempt, the parties could not settle, but their senior counsel indicated they would accept an order from the Court given the dispute's long-running, decades-old nature. Rather than re-examining the merits in detail, the Court took an overall/equitable view: considering the depreciated 2011 valuation of the vehicles and amounts already deposited by the petitioners (Rs.12 lakh before the High Court and Rs.50 lakh before the Supreme Court as conditions for stay), it fixed the total amount payable to the Board at Rs.62 lakh in full and final satisfaction of the decree. The Court directed that the sums already deposited (with accrued interest) simply be released to the Board, thereby bringing the nearly three-decade-old litigation to an end without further proceedings.

Lesson Learnt

In long-pending commercial disputes, the Supreme Court may, with the parties' cooperation, resolve matters through a practical, equitable lump-sum settlement based on amounts already secured or deposited, rather than adjudicating every factual and legal contention afresh, in order to bring finality to litigation that has dragged on for decades.

Official source (sci.gov.in)View Judgment (PDF)

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