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Desh Raj v. Balkishan (D) Through Proposed LR Ms. Rohini

Civil Appeal · 2020 INSC 59Decided 20 Jan 2020
Civil Appeal No. 433 of 2020
Chief Justice S.A. Bobde · Justice B.R. Gavai · Justice Surya Kant

Background

Two brothers who each owned a floor of an ancestral property fell into a dispute after one agreed to sell his floor to the other but then failed to honour the agreement, leading to a suit for specific performance. The defendant brother repeatedly failed to file his written statement despite the trial court granting him several extensions well beyond the 90-day outer limit under Order VIII Rule 1 of the Code of Civil Procedure, and the trial court eventually struck off his defence. The Delhi High Court dismissed his revision petition by relying on a precedent that was actually about the stricter, amended version of Order VIII Rule 1 that applies only to commercial disputes.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court agreed with the appellant that the High Court had wrongly applied a commercial-disputes precedent to this ordinary, non-commercial property dispute, since the unamended Order VIII Rule 1 (applicable here) is directory, not mandatory, and courts retain some discretion to condone delay in filing a written statement. However, on the facts, the Court found the appellant had been given multiple chances, offered no real justification beyond blaming his lawyer, and only attempted to file his written statement 95 days after even the extended deadline. Taking a lenient, one-time view without setting a precedent, the Court allowed the belated written statement to be taken on record, but only on payment of Rs. 25,000 in costs to the other side, and disposed of the appeal on these terms.

Lesson Learnt

Courts have discretion to excuse delay in filing a written statement in ordinary civil suits beyond the usual 90-day limit, but such leniency is the exception, not the rule, and typically comes at a real cost to the party at fault: timelines set by courts should not be treated casually.

Official source (sci.gov.in)View Judgment (PDF)

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