Majority bench dismisses Freenet appeal in AGO’s USD 53,826 recovery suit

The High Court has dismissed an appeal filed by Freenet Pvt Ltd against a Civil Court judgment ordering the company to pay USD 53,826 to the Attorney General’s Office (AGO).

The case stems from a civil suit filed by the state seeking recovery of the cost of a case-management software developed by Freenet for AGO. The Civil Court found that the software failed to meet the specifications outlined in the proposal submitted to the Attorney General’s Office, and ruled on March 4 that Freenet must pay the amount within 30 days.

Freenet appealed the ruling, arguing that the Civil Court had not properly considered the evidence of the expert witness presented on behalf of the company. The state, however, filed a procedural objection under Article 287 of the Code of Civil Procedure, arguing that Freenet’s grounds of appeal did not raise a legal question that could be accepted at the appeal stage.

The state further argued that the Civil Court had already taken the expert’s testimony into account, and that the expert himself had been unable to clearly identify the original software specifications or the version delivered to AGO for testing.

After reviewing submissions from both sides, the High Court on Monday dismissed the appeal by majority decision.  

Justices Deebanaz Fahumy and Hassan Shafeeu held that the procedural objection should be accepted and that the appeal could not proceed.

The third member of the bench, Justice Mohamed Shaneez Abdullah, disagreed, ruling that the procedural objection should not be accepted.

With the dismissal, the Civil Court judgment ordering Freenet to pay USD 53,826 to AGO remains in force.