JUDGMENT :

Ajay Mohan Goel, J.

By way of this petition filed under Article 227 of the Constitution of India, petitioner has challenged order dated 20.04.2019 passed by the Court of learned Senior Civil Judge, Shimla, in CMA No. 290 of 2019 and in CMA No. 226- 6 of 2018, vide which, learned Trial Court, while allowing the application filed by the defendants for extension of time for filing the written statement, dismissed the application filed by the plaintiff for striking off the defence of the defendants for not filing the written statement in time.

2. Brief facts necessary for the adjudication of the present petition are that the petitioners herein have filed a suit for declaration and injunction against the present respondents. This suit was initially filed before the Court of learned Civil Judge, Court No. 2, Rohroo, District Shimla, HP. The suit was instituted on 11.08.2017. After service, defendants appeared before the learned Court on 19.08.2017. On 21.08.2017, a request was made on behalf of the defendants before the learned Court below that they intended to file an application under Section 24 of the Code of Civil Procedure (hereinafter referred to as the 'Code' for short) fo