The mandatory timeline of 120 days for filing a written statement in a commercial suit is not applicable to suits originally filed as ordinary suits and subsequently transferred as commercial suits to be heard by the commercial division of the Court under Section 15(1) of the Commercial Courts Act.

JUDGMENT

S. C. Gupte, J. - This commercial appeal challenges an order passed by a learned Single Judge of this Court on a notice of motion. The question of law decided by the learned Single Judge in the impugned order was : whether the mandatory timeline of 120 days for fling a written statement in a Commercial Suit is applicable to suits which were filed prior to the enactment of the Commercial Courts Act, 2015 and which came to be transferred as commercial suits to be heard by the commercial division of this Court in accordance with the provisions of Section 15 of the Commercial Courts Act.

2. The present suit was filed on 19.03.2013 as an ordinary suit. On 15.04.2013, writ of summons was issued to both defendants, who are Respondents to the present commercial appeal. The writ of summons was duly served on defendant No.2, but not on defendant No.1. In pursuance of such service, on 19.11.2013, defendant No.2 filed its written statement in the suit. Before the writ of summons could be served on defendant No.1, the Commercial Courts, Commercial Division and Commercial Appellate Division of High Courts Act, 2015 ("Commercial Courts Act") came into force on 23.10.2015. In pursuance of that Act, particularly Section 15 thereof, the Prothonotary & Senior Master issued a notification transferring all suits of specified value and answering the description of "commercial dispute" to the commercial division of this Court, to be tried as commercial suits. On 13.08.2016, the present suit was accordingly converted into a commercial suit. At that stage, the advocate of original defendant No.1 entered appearance and waived service of writ of summons. The Prothonotary & Senior Master, by his order dated 13.08.2016, directed defendant No.1 to file its written statement on or before 2..09.2016, failing which the commercial suit was directed to be transferred to the list of undefended suits as against defendant No.1. Defendant No.1 failed to file its written statement by that date and instead sought three extensions. Finally, by order dated 21.09.201., defendant No.1 was granted four weeks' time to file its written statement. Defendant No.1, however, did not file its written statement within this period. On 19.01.2018, period of 120 days from the date of the original order providing for the last extension of time elapsed without there being any written statement on record. In the premises, on 2..02.2018, defendant No.1 filed the present notice of motion seeking condonation of delay in fling its written statement. The learned Judge, after hearing the parties, passed an order on that notice of motion on 24.05.2019, holding interalia that the mandatory timeline of 120 days for fling of a written statement in a commercial suit was not applicable to suits filed prior to the enactment of the Commercial Courts Act, which were subsequently transferred as commercial suits to be tried by the commercial division of this Court. Though the notice of motion for condonation of delay is still pending before the learned Single Judge, as a matter of law, the point was decided in favour of the applicant/defendant No.1. Being aggrieved, the present commercial appeal has been filed by the original plaintiff.

3. Mr. Thakkar, learned senior counsel appearing for the appellant/original plaintiff, has taken us through the provisions of the Commercial Courts Act and, in particular, Section 15 thereof and amendments made by that Act to Order V Rule 1, Order VIII Rule 1 and Order VIII Rule 10 of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 ("Code") in their application to commercial suits. Learned counsel submits that the provisions of Commercial Courts Act and in particular, the proviso to Subsection (4) of Section 15 thereof, which makes the amended provisions of sub-rule (1) of Order V of the Code inapplicable to pending suits transferred to the commercial division, applies only to those suits which were not only pending as at the date of the Commercial Courts Act, but where writs o