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No Written Statement Can Be Entertain After 120 Days: Commercial Suit
The Supreme Court held that according to CPC it is mandatory to file written statement within 120 days from the date of issuing of summons in a commercial matter. The division bench consists of Justice Rohinton Fali Nariman and Justice Vineet Saran hearing the SLP filed by the petitioner against the Delhi High Court order in case of SCG Contracts India Pvt. Ltd vs. K.S. Chamankar Infrastructure Pvt. Ltd where the Court allowed to file a written statement after 120 days from the date of service of summons of this Suit.
According to the SC: the written statement should be filed within 30 days if court allows it will be extended to 90 days but it should not be more than 120 days in a commercial suit and this is mandatory.
In the above case, the lower court allowed the written statement filed by the defendant after 120 days of the summons which was objected by the petitioner but the court denied it. The petitioner approaches to SC, the court observed that:
According to the Commercial Courts Act, 2015, the proviso was introduced to Order V, Rule 1(1) and Order VIII Rules 1 and 10 of the CPC. This says that the court has no discretion to extend the time limit for filing written statement in a commercial suit beyond 120 days from the date of the summons.
Court also referred to Oku Tech Private Limited v. Sangeet Agarwal & Ors and Maja Cosmetics v. Oasis Commercial Pvt. Ltd. where the court held that the limitation period for filing the written statement is 120 days which is mandatory.
The division bench also declined to entertain the contention of the defendant, that Section 151 can be invoked in such cases where the inequitable repercussion would arise.
