Vimlesh Gupta Vs Kuldeep Singh — Delhi HC (2026) — LawSathi Research

Vimlesh Gupta Vs Kuldeep Singh — Delhi HC (2026) — LawSathi Research

What the court decided

AI extract

Outcome

No relief to the Appellant; the Appeal along with pending applications, if any, is dismissed, leaving intact the ADJ's condonation of delay and remand of the leave to defend application to the learned Trial Court for decision on merits and trial.

Issue for consideration

Whether the Learned Appellate Court exceeded its jurisdiction by allowing Application for Leave to defend even beyond limitation period? +2 more

Court's answer

There were COVID-19 restrictions imposed from 20.03.2020 causing complete disruption of court proceedings and a complete lockdown for the first two months from March 2020; the court could not overlook this extraordinary situation.

Ratio / Principle

It is a fact that the summons for Judgment was admittedly received on 01.02.2020 and the Leave to Defend Application was filed on 14.01.2021, which was again during the peak of COVID-19.

Key takeaways

In the interest of justice, the extraordinary situation created by the COVID-19 pandemic entitled the Defendant to its benefit; the learned District Judge rightly condoned the delay and rightly referred the matter back to the learned Trial Court to decide the Leave To Defend Application on merits and proceed with the trial.ratio¶35
There is no merit in the Second Appeal and no question of law has been raised in it; the grounds of challenge are purely on facts and are designed to challenge the discretion of the learned District Judge, for which no ground exists.ratio¶36

Detailed headnote1 paragraphs

Delhi High Court (Neena Bansal Krishna, J.; order dated 20.01.2026) dismisses Regular Second Appeal RSA 37/2023 filed under Section 100 CPC by the plaintiff in summary suit CS SCJ 688/19 under Order XXXVII Rule 3(5) CPC for recovery of Rs. 1,80,000, challenging the judgment dated 19.12.2022 of learned ADJ-01 (RCA 27/2021), which had set aside the Senior Civil Judge's dismissal of the defendant's leave to defend application as filed beyond the specified time (decree dated 21.08.2021), condoned the delay and remanded the case to the Trial Court to take the leave to defend application on record and proceed with trial. Noting that summons for Judgment was admittedly received on 01.02.2020 and the leave to defend application was filed on 14.01.2021 during the peak of COVID-19, and that COVID-19 restrictions imposed from 20.03.2020 caused complete disruption of court proceedings and complete lockdown, the Court held that in the interest of justice the extraordinary situation created by the COVID-19 pandemic entitled the defendant to its benefit; the District Judge rightly condoned the delay and rightly referred the matter back for decision on the leave to defend application on merits. The Court found no substantial question of law in the second appeal, the grounds of challenge being purely factual and aimed at the District Judge's discretion; the appeal and pending applications were dismissed.

$~48

IN THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI

- RSA 37/2023, CM APPL. 8295/2023

VIMLESH GUPTA .....Appellant

Through: Mr. Faiz Imam, Advocate.

Versus

KULDEEP SINGH .....Respondent

Through: None.

CORAM:

HON'BLE MS. JUSTICE NEENA BANSAL KRISHNA O R D E R % 20.01.2026

1. Learned counsel for the Respondent had been appearing regularly since 18.09.2023, but none had appeared on the last date of hearing as well as today; he is proceeded ex-parte .

2. Second Appeal under Section 100 read with Order XLII of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 (>C.P.C.?) has been filed on behalf of the Appellant for setting aside impugned Judgment dated 19.12.2022 passed by learned ADJ-01, New Delhi whereby the dismissal of leave to defend Application as filed beyond the specified time, by the Ld. Senior Civil Judge, was set aside and the case was remanded to consider the Leave to defend Application on merits .

3. Brief facts are that CS SCJ 688/19 under Order XXXVII Rule 3(5) C.P.C. was filed by the Plaintiff / Appellant against Respondent / Defendant for recovery of Rs.1,80,000/-.

This is a digitally signed order.

The authenticity of the order can be re-verified from Delhi High Court Order Portal by scanning the QR code shown above. The Order is downloaded from the DHC Server on 31/01/2026 at 14:38:05

4. Learned Senior Civil Judge vide Judgment dated 21.08.2021, dismissed the Application for Leave to Defend filed by the Respondent / Defendant as it was filed beyond the specified time and decreed the suit of Plaintiff / Appellant for a sum of Rs.1,80,000/-.

5. Execution Petition bearing No.400/2021 dated 05.10.2021 was filed by the Decree Holder / Appellant against Respondent / Defendant, who then filed RCA No.27/2021 before the Appellate Court of learned ADJ, who vide impugned Judgment dated 19.12.2022 condoned the delay in filing Leave to Defend Application and remanded back the case with directions to the learned Trial Court to take leave to defend Application on record and proceed with trial.

6. Aggrieved by the aforesaid impugned Judgment dated 19.12.2022, present Appeal has been filed by the Appellant/Plaintiff. Substantial questions of law as framed in the Appeal, are as under:

< I. Whether Learned Appellate Court has exceeded its jurisdiction by allowing Application for Leave to defend even beyond limitation period?

II. Whether Learned Appellate Court has exceeded its Jurisdiction by exercising its Jurisdiction against express statutory bar for exercise of power?

III. Whether Learned Appellate Court has exceeded its Jurisdiction by allowing Application for Leave to defend even without Application for condonation of delay? =

7. It is submitted that the Appellate Court exceeded its jurisdiction in allowing the leave to defend Application beyond the limitation period, in complete disregard to the statutory requirement. Though, it has been claimed that the benefit of COVID-19 Pandemic is required to be given, but the

This is a digitally signed order.

The authenticity of the order can be re-verified from Delhi High Court Order Portal by scanning the QR code shown above. The Order is downloaded from the DHC Server on 31/01/2026 at 14:38:05

summons for Judgment were served on 01.02.2020, while COVID-19 Pandemic restrictions were imposed w.e.f. 24.03.2020.

8. There were 52 days for the Respondent to file the Application for Leave to Defend before imposition of lockdown under COVID-19 Pandemic. Impugned Judgment of learned District Judge, giving the benefit of COVID-19 Pandemic, is misplaced and the delay in filing Leave to Defend Application could not have been condoned. 9. It is therefore, submitted that the impugned Judgment dated 19.12.2022 be set aside and the decree passed by learned Civil Judge be restored.

Submissions heard and record perused.

10. The Civil Suit dated 17.07.2019 under Order XXXVII Rule 3 (5) of C.P.C. was filed by the Plaintiff / Appellant against Respondent / Defendant for recovery of Rs.1,80,000/-. 11. Summons for appearance were issued and Respondent / Defendant entered his appearance within a period of 10 days. Thereafter, summons for Judgment were issued, but were received un-served. However, on 01.02.2020, learned Trial Court directed the Plaintiff to supply the copy of the Application of summons of Judgment to the Defendant. Subsequently, Defendant filed his leave to defend Application, on 14.01.2021. On the other hand, Plaintiff filed Application under Section 151 of C.P.C. for passing of Judgment and Decree.

12. The record further reflects that learned counsel for the Defendant / Respondent had appeared on 08.01.2021. Learned ADJ, in the impugned Judgment, observed that Defendant had explained in his reply that the summons, which were received by the Respondent, got misplaced and the

This is a digitally signed order.

The authenticity of the order can be re-verified from Delhi High Court Order Portal by scanning the QR code shown above. The Order is downloaded from the DHC Server on 31/01/2026 at 14:38:05

same were supplied afresh, on 01.02.2020.

13. Application on behalf of the Plaintiff / Appellant for summons for Judgment was moved in the Court and the copy of the same was received on behalf of the Defendant / Respondent on 01.02.2020.

14. Pertinently, in the Order dated 08.01.2020 of the learned SCJ, it was noted that learned counsel for the Defendant had submitted that he had already filed Leave to Defend Application, though the same was not getting reflected in the Order-sheets and was also not available on record. 15. It cannot be overlooked that there were COVID-19 restrictions, which got imposed from 20.03.2020. There was complete disruption of the Court proceedings and there was a complete lockdown for the first two months from March, 2020. The entire Court system came to a standstill. In these circumstances, learned District Judge had rightly observed that Defendant was entitled for benefit on account of COVID-19 Pandemic. It is also a fact that summons for Judgment was admittedly received on 01.02.2020 and the Leave to Defend Application was filed on 14.01.2021, which was again during the peak of COVID-19.

16. In the interest of the justice, extra-ordinary situation created by COVID-19 pandemic, entitled the Defendant to its benefit. Learned District Judge has rightly condoned the delay and referred the matter back to the learned Trial Court, to decide the Leave To Defend Application on merits and proceed with the Trial.

17. There is no merit in the Appeal and also there is no question of law, which has been raised in this Second Appeal. The grounds of challenge are purely on facts and are designed to challenge the discretion of learned District Judge, for which no ground exists.

This is a digitally signed order.

The authenticity of the order can be re-verified from Delhi High Court Order Portal by scanning the QR code shown above. The Order is downloaded from the DHC Server on 31/01/2026 at 14:38:05

18. Accordingly, the Appeal along with pending Applications, if any, is dismissed.

NEENA BANSAL KRISHNA, J.

JANUARY 20, 2026/ R

This is a digitally signed order. The authenticity of the order can be re-verified from Delhi High Court Order Portal by scanning the QR code shown above. The Order is downloaded from the DHC Server on 31/01/2026 at 14:38:05