Tata Consultancy Services Ltd v Sengar

JUDGMENT

MR SIMON PICKEN QC:

Introduction

On Friday 6 June 2014 I heard an application for interim injunctive relief requiring the delivery up of certain property belonging to the Claimant (‘Tata’) and the deletion of any soft copies of that property, and prohibiting the Defendant (‘Mr Sengar’) from communicating or disclosing to any person Tata’s proprietary and confidential information as well as from inducing or procuring any third party to provide him with Tata’s proprietary and confidential information.

The hearing took all day, finishing at about 5 o’clock. In the circumstances, given the urgency of the matter, I informed the parties of my decision, which was to grant the relief sought by Tata (subject to certain modifications), but explained that I would give my reasons in the form of a written judgment. This is that written judgment.

Background

Although much of the factual background is not in dispute, there are aspects where that is not the case, most particularly Tata’s allegation that Mr Sengar has engaged in blackmail. It should be borne in mind that, in dealing with such matters when setting out the factual background in this judgment, I am not seeking to make final findings in relation to disputed issues, and should not be taken as so doing, since it is not my role, on an application for an interim injunction, to assume the role which the judge at trial will need to perform.

In what follows I shall endeavour to describe the position in a manner which reflects both parties’ positions. In doing so, I have had regard, obviously, to the parties’ helpful skeleton arguments, as well as to their respective oral submissions, whilst considering the underlying documentation. I have also considered, with care, the witness statements which have been produced: from Tata’s witnesses, Mrs Nupur Mallick (Tata’s Head of Human Resources in the United Kingdom), and Mr Himanshu Kumar (Resource Deployment Analyst at Tata); and from Mr Sengar himself.

As Mrs Mallick explained, Tata (a multi-national IT consultancy company) is part of the Tata Group, one of India's largest conglomerates, having been established in 1968 as a division of Tata Sons Limited and incorporated as a separate legal entity in India in 1995, prior to its registration in this country as an overseas company in 2004. Operating in the United Kingdom for over thirty years, Tata now has around 7,000 employees working at more than 65 client sites. Its head office is in Grosvenor Place in Lon