The time of 90 days prescribed for filing written statement under Order VIII Rule 1 of CPC in an ordinary suit is directory and not mandatory. The court has the discretion to grant further time to the defendant in exceptionally hard cases by directing the defendant to pay cost to the plaintiff so as to do substantial justice to both the parties.

JUDGMENT :

The present case is taken up today through Video conferencing.

2. The present Civil Miscellaneous Petition has been filed for quashing the order dated 20.01.2020 (Annexure-4 to the writ petition) passed by the Civil Judge (Sr. Division)-I, Khunti in Original Suit No. 47 of 2018 whereby the petition dated 18.01.2020 filed by the petitioners (defendant nos. 2 to 16 in Original Suit No. 47 of 2018) for recalling the order dated 09.12.2019 (Annexure-2 to the writ petition), has been rejected. The petitioners have also prayed for quashing order dated 09.12.2019 whereby they were debarred from filing the written statements.

3. The learned counsel for the petitioners submits that the plaintiff/respondent no. 1 filed Original Suit No. 47 of 2018 seeking declaration of its right, title and interest upon the land in question as also for cancellation of sale deed executed by the defendant no. 1 (the respondent no. 2 herein) in favour of the defendant nos. 2 to 16/the petitioners. The defendant no. 1/respondent no. 2 as well as the defendant nos. 2 to 16/the petitioners appeared by filing Vakalatnama on 22.08.2019, however they did not file their written statements till 22.11.2019 i.e. even after lapse of 90 days and therefore they were debarred from filing of the written statements. It is further submitted that the petitioners will suffer irreparable loss and injury if they are not allowed to file written statements as well as in absence of any pleading on their behalf. The plaintiff/respondent no. 1 has made prayer for cancellation of the sale deed by virtue of which all the petitioners have purchased the suit property and are in possession thereof. They have also made construction over the same. It is also submitted that the court below has not at all considered the provisions of Order VIII Rule 1 of the Code of Civil Procedure (in short “ the CPC”) which is directory in nature and plaintiff could have been compensated with cost by allowing the petitioners to file written statements within a time frame or the next date fixed. It is further submitted that the petitioners are ready to cooperate in early disposal of the original suit.

4. The learned counsel appearing on behalf of the respondent no.1 submits that after receiving the notices, the defendants appeared and filed Vakalatnama on 22.08.2019 and thereafter they did not file written statement on several dates i.e 13.09.2019, 20.09.2019, 27.09.2019, 07.11.2019 and 09.12.2019 and as such the defendants were debarred from filing written statements vide order dated 09.12.2019. The petitioners did not give any plausible explanation for not filing the written statements within 90 days and accordingly their petition dated 18.01.2020 filed for recall of order dated 09.12.2019 has rightly been rejected by the court below vide order dated 20.01.2020. It is further submitted that Order VIII Rule 1 of the CPC specifically provides a timeframe for filing the written statement and the defendant is required to file the same within 30 days’ from the date of service of summons. The court however can accept filing of the written statement by recording reasons in writing, but the same should not be later than 90 days from the date of service of summons. In the instant case, the period of 90 days from the date of appearance for filing the written statements by the petitioners expired on 22.11.2019, but the defendants did not choose to file their written statements till 09.12.2019 and as such they were rightly debarred from filing the same by the court below.

5. Heard learned counsel for the parties and perused the materials available on record. The petitioners have been debarred from filing the written statement on the ground that they failed to file the same within the period of 90 days as prescribed under Order VIII Rule 1 of the CPC. The petitioners’ petition dated 18.01.2020 filed for recalling the order of debarment has also been rejected by the court below vide order dated 20.01.2020.

6. In