SHC tells mobile food delivery company to abide by agreement

The Sindh High Court has directed a mobile food delivery company to abide by the terms and conditions of a strategic partnership agreement with regard to the provision of academic services to students.

The interim order came on a lawsuit filed by Coded Minds against the termination of the strategic partnership contract by the food delivery company.

Plaintiff counsel Mohammad Ahmed Pansota submitted that the plaintiff entered into an agreement with the defendant company to provide academic services curriculum, leading kits (if required) and teachers from KG-I to grade 8 in the subjects of science, technology, English, mathematics, Islamiat and Urdu.

The counsel submitted that the company was to provide the student body at least up to 1,00,000 students and pay Rs18,000 annually per student for the entire year to the plaintiff, while an operational timeline was agreed between the parties, and that was an integral part of the agreement.

He said that plaintiff developed the curriculum and the teachers training certification for the project by spending a hefty amount of $262,500 and the defendant staff were in touch with each other through their employees and a memorandum of understanding was also signed between them for PR stint. He told the court that the company backed out from the agreement and flatly refused to act upon the agreement without assigning any reasons.

The counsel submitted that there had been no termination and settlement discussions going on between the plaintiff and the defendant. He said the refusal to act upon the agreement caused a huge loss to the plaintiff for the amount already invested by the plaintiff.

The court was requested to direct the defendant to pay $ 4 million to the plaintiff for the first three phase students and perform their obligations as per terms of the agreement and to restrain it from entering into an agreement with any other entity for the education of its employees.

A single bench headed by Justice Syed Hasan Azhar Rizvi, after the preliminary hearing of the lawsuit, issued notices to the defendant food delivery company, and in the meantime directed the defendant to abide by the terms and conditions of the subject agreements in its letter and spirit.

The court also restrained the defendant from entering into any fresh agreement relating to the same subject matter with any third party or to take any adverse action against its employees who were appointed pursuant to the agreement till the next date of hearing.