High Court allowed petitioners one opportunity to file a written statement by paying costs, distinguishing commercial from non-commercial CPC regimes. District Court's strike-off was overturned.
Defense petitioners granted 90-day extension to file written statement attached to payment of Rs.30,000 costs to plaintiff; else petition dismissed.
This page shows the compact analysis of this judgement. The full analysis — procedural history, issue-by-issue holdings with ratio and obiter, advocates, and paragraph-level evidence for every claim — is being added to the record in batches and will appear here when this judgement has been through it.
2024:PHHC:033500
IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT
CHANDIGARH
124
CR-1283-2024 (O&M) Date of decision : 07.03.2024
Anuradha and Another ... Petitioner(s) Versus Ram Kishan and Others ...Respondent(s)
CORAM : HON'BLE MRS. JUSTICE ALKA SARIN
Present : Ms. Tejaswini, Advocate for the petitioners. Mr. Deepak Grover, Advocate for respondents No.1 and 2.
ALKA SARIN, J. (ORAL)
Ankur Goyal 2024.03.11 09:09 I attest to the accuracy and integrity of this document
CR-1283-2024 (O&M)
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2024:PHHC:033500
Desh Raj vs. Balkishan (D) through proposed LR Ms. Rohini [(2020)
RCR (Civil) 807] has held as under :
“ANALYSIS & CONCLUSION
11. At the outset, it must be noted that the Commercial Courts Act, 2015 through Section 16 has amended the CPC in its application to commercial disputes to provide as follows:
“16. Amendments to the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 in its application to commercial disputes.—
(1) The provisions of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 (5 of 1908) shall, in their application to any suit in respect of a commercial dispute of a Specified Value, stand amended in the manner as specified in the Schedule.
(2) The Commercial Division and Commercial Court shall follow the provisions of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 (5 of 1908), as amended by this Act, in the trial of a suit in respect of a commercial dispute of a specified value.
(3) Where any provision of any Rule of the jurisdictional High Court or any amendment to the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908, by the State Government is in conflict with the provisions of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 (5 of 1908), as amended by this Act, the provisions of the Code of
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CR-1283-2024 (O&M) 2024:PHHC:033500 --3--
Civil Procedure as amended by this Act shall prevail.”
12. Hence, it is clear that post coming into force of the aforesaid Act, there are two regimes of civil procedure. Whereas commercial disputes [as defined under Section 2(c) of the Commercial Courts Act, 2015] are governed by the CPC as amended by Section 16 of the said Act; all other noncommercial disputes fall within the ambit of the unamended (or original) provisions of CPC.
13. The judgment of Oku Tech (supra) relied upon the learned Single Judge is no doubt good law, as recently upheld by this Court in SCG Contracts India Pvt. Ltd. v. KS Chamankar Infrastructure Pvt. Ltd., AIR 2019 SC 2691, but its ratio concerning the mandatory nature of the timeline prescribed for filing of written statement and the lack of discretion with Courts to condone any delay is applicable only to commercial disputes, as the judgment was undoubtedly rendered in the context of a commercial dispute qua the amended Order VIII Rule 1 CPC.
14. As regard the time-line for filing of written statement in a non commercial dispute, the observations of this Court in a catena of decisions, most recently in Atcom Technologies Ltd. v. Y.A. Chunawala and Co., (2018) 6 SCC 639 holds the field. Unamended Order VIII Rule I,
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CR-1283-2024 (O&M) 2024:PHHC:033500
CPC continues to be directory and does not do away
with the inherent discretion of Courts to condone certain delays.”
07.03.2024 Ankur
(ALKA SARIN) JUDGE
NOTE: Whether speaking/non-speaking: Speaking Whether reportable: YES/NO
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3 issues framed by the court
Whether the defense petitioners can be granted an opportunity to file a written statement despite prior strike-off due to delay in a non-commercial dispute?
Whether the strict timelines for filing written statements under the Commercial Courts Act apply to non-commercial suits under CPC?
Can a jurisdictional High Court condone delay in filing a written statement in non-commercial civil disputes?
Colour shows how this judgement treated each authority
Desh Raj vs. BalkishanRelied on¶20
Desh Raj vs. Balkishan [(2020) RCR (Civil) 807]
SCG Contracts India Pvt. Ltd. v. KS Chamankar Infrastructure Pvt. Ltd.Referred¶31
SCG Contracts India Pvt. Ltd. v. KS Chamankar Infrastructure Pvt. Ltd., AIR 2019 SC 2691 · Who else cites this
Atcom Technologies Ltd. v. Y.A. Chunawala and Co.Relied on¶32
Atcom Technologies Ltd. v. Y.A. Chunawala and Co., (2018) 6 SCC 639 · Who else cites this
2 provisions across 2 enactments
Anuradha and Another
Ram Kishan and Others
Alka Sarin
As recorded by the court registry
Judgements on the same questions, provisions and authorities, from every court
