Interim mandatory injunction requires strict triple test; State failed to show borrowing space and irreparable injury.

Interim mandatory injunctions require a stricter application of the prima facie case, balance of convenience and irreparable injury test. Here, the State failed to show available borrowing space on the material then available: the Court prima facie accepted that earlier over-borrowing could be adjusted against later years, and that off-budget borrowing and past over-utilisation left no demonstrated fiscal headroom for further borrowing. The pleaded financial hardship was treated as monetary and not, at that stage, irreparable injury. The balance of convenience also weighed against interim relief because large-scale disruption would be difficult to reverse if the suit ultimately failed.

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Issues: Whether the State established a prima facie case for ad-interim mandatory injunction by showing available borrowing space and whether the three-fold test of prima facie case, balance of convenience and irreparable injury was satisfied.

Analysis: The suit raised substantial constitutional questions and those questions were referred to a five-judge Bench. For interim relief, the relief sought was mandatory in nature, so a stricter application of the triple test was required. On the material then available, the State did not establish unutilised borrowing space. The Court accepted, prima facie, that over-borrowing in earlier years could be adjusted against subsequent years, and that once off-budget borrowing and past over-utilisation were accounted for, the State had no demonstrated fiscal headroom for the claimed further borrowing. The pleaded financial hardship was treated as monetary in character and not, at that stage, as irreparable injury. The balance of convenience also lay against granting the injunction because any large-scale disruption from interim relief would be difficult to reverse if the suit ultimately failed.

Conclusion: The State was not entitled to the ad-interim mandatory injunction sought.

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