The Single Judge bench of the Jharkhand High Court held that the purpose of providing the time schedule for filing the written statement under Order VIII Rule 1 of C.P.C. is to expedite and not to scuttle the hearing. The provisions spell out a disability on the defendant. It does not impose an embargo on the power of the Court to extend the time.
Brief facts
The factual matrix of the case is that the defendant failed to file the writ statement within a period of 90 days, due to which the opportunity to file the written statement was closed by the trial court. Thereafter, the defendant moved an application on the ground that on account of suffering from typhoid, he could not approach his lawyer. The trial court rejected the application filed by the defendant under Order VIII Rule 1 read with Section 151 of the C.P.C. wherein it was prayed by the defendant to accept the written statement of the defendant beyond the statutory period of 90 days. Therefore, the present Writ Petition is filed in order to challenge the order passed by the learned civil judge.
Observations of the court
The Hon’ble Court observed that the 30-day period from the date of notice service for filing a written statement is stipulated by Order VIII Rule 1 read with Section 151 of the C.P.C. The trial court may further extend the time period by sixty days for filing the written statement for the reasons to be recorded.
The court furthermore observed that the provisions of Order VIII Rule 1 of C.P.C. to file the written statement within a maximum period of 90 days is directory not mandatory.
The Hon’ble Court relied upon the judgment titled Kailash vs. Nanhku & Ors. in which it was held that
Based on these considerations, the court set aside the order passed by the learned trial court.
The decision of the court
With the above direction, the court allowed the writ petition.
Case Title: Mosomat Dukho Orain V. Sheikh Khalil
Coram: Hon’ble Mr. Justice Subhash Chand
Case No.: W.P.(C) No. 6197 of 2017
Advocate for the Petitioner: Mr. Rajesh Kumar, Advocate
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