JUDGMENT :

NAVIN CHAWLA, J.

PREFACE

1. This Full Bench has been constituted to answer the reference made by the learned Single Judge of this Court vide his Order dated 21.03.2024 (hereinafter referred to as „Order of the Reference‟) passed in OMP(COMM) 20/2024 titled Bharat Broadband Network Limited v. Sterlite Technologies Limited.

2. The relevant extracts from the Order of the Reference, which would also indicate the question of law to be determined by this Full Bench, is as under:

"4. As far as the Statement of Truth is concerned, it is undisputed that the Statement of Truth was not filed on 27.10.2023, when the petition was first filed. However, learned counsel for the parties have drawn my attention to two Division Benches judgments, which come to different conclusions as to whether the lack of Statement of Truth constitutes a fatal defect in the original filing.

5. The first of these decisions is ONGC v. Sai Rama Engineering Enterprises, [2023 SCC OnLine Del 63]. Mr. Jayant Mehta, learned Senior Counsel for the petitioner has drawn my attention to paragraph Nos. 30 to 35 which read as follows:

"30. We concur with the learned Single Judge that certain defects are curable and do not r