ORDER (Oral)

1. Can, in a case in which the defendant fails to file written statement in response to the suit within the time stipulated in that regard and remains absent, the suit proceeding, ipso facto, to straightaway decree the suit, without any further process, including the calling for an affidavit-in-evidence from the plaintiff?

2. I had some misgivings on the point. Several orders have been passed by the learned Single Judges of this Court, decreeing the suit in such circumstances. Most of these orders invoke the jurisdiction of the Court under Order VIII Rule 10¹ of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 (CPC).

3. What troubled me was whether, where there was no written statement filed, the Court could straightaway decree the suit on the basis of the assertions in the plaint without seeking any affidavit-in-evidence from the plaintiff.

4. The question, however, appears to be answered by the judgment of the Supreme Court in Balraj Taneja v. Sunil Madan, (1999) 8 SCC 396. The Supreme Court, in that case, took stock of Order VIII Rule 5² and Order VIII Rule 10 of the CPC. The Supreme Court proceeded to hold thus, in paras 9, 10, 11, 12, 14, 15, 27 and 29 of the report:

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