* IN THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI Date of decision: 08^th APRIL, 2026 IN THE MATTER OF:

O.A. 43/2023 I + CS(OS) 330/2022 VK SOOD PIL JV .....Plaintiff Through: Mr. Karunesh Tandon, Mr. Sarthak Mittal, Mr. Prabin Mohan, Advs.

versus SOUTH DELHI MUNICIPAL CORPORATION AND ORS .....Defendants Through: Mr. Tushar Sannu, Standing Counsel of MCD with Ms Ankita Bhadouriya & Mr Umesh Kumar, Advs CORAM:

HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE SUBRAMONIUM PRASAD JUDGMEN I.A. 7780/2023

1. This is an Application under Section 14 of the Limitation Act, 1963 read with Section 151 of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 (“CPC”) on behalf of the Defendants seeking condonation of delay in filing the Chamber Appeal.

2. For the reasons stated in the Application, the delay in filing the Chamber Appeal is condoned.

3. The Application is disposed of.

O.A. 43/2023

4. The challenge in this Appeal is to the Order dated 17.03.2023 by which the learned Joint Registrar refused to accept the Written Statement of the Defendant on record on the ground that it has been filed beyond the period of 120 days.

5. Material on record indicates that on receiving summons, Defendants appeared for the first time on 31.05.2022 and time was granted to file the Written Statement on the said date. The Written Statement was filed for the first time on 25.09.2022. However, the said Written Statement was kept in defect as it was not accompanied by the Affidavit of admission/denial of documents.

6. The Written Statement along with the Affidavit of admission/denial of documents ultimately came on record on 14.12.2022, which is beyond the maximum period provided under the Delhi High Court (Original Side)

Rules, 2018 (hereinafter referred to as the „Delhi High Court Rules‟).

7. Vide Order dated 17.03.2023, the learned Joint Registrar refused to accept the Written Statement filed by the Defendants, which was not accompanied by the Affidavit of admission/denial of documents on the date when it was filed and the Affidavit was filed only on 14.12.2022, which is beyond the prescribed period of 120 days under the Delhi High Court Rules. 8. Rule 2, 3 and 4 of Chapter VII of the Delhi High Court Rules which are relevant are reproduced as under:-

“2. Procedure when defendant appears.

If the defendant appears personally or through an Advocate before or on the day fixed for his appearance in the writ of summons:—

(i) where the summons is for appearance and for filing written statement, the written statement shall not be taken on record, unless filed within 30 days of the date of such service or within the time provided by these Rules, the Code or the Commercial Courts Act, as applicable. An advance copy of the written statement, together with legible copies of all documents in possession and power of defendant, shall be served on plaintiff, and the written statement together with said documents shall not be accepted by the Registry, unless it contains an endorsement of service signed by such party or his Advocate.

(ii) the Registrar shall mark the documents produced by parties for purpose of identification, and after comparing the copies with their respective originals, if they are found correct, certify them to be so and return the original(s) to the concerned party.

3. Affidavit of admission/ denial of documents alongwith written statement.-

Alongwith the written statement, defendant shall also file an affidavit of admission/ denial of documents filed by the plaintiff, without which the written statement shall not be taken on record. Alongwith the written statement, the defendant shall be entitled to file applications for interrogatories for examination of the plaintiff together with proposed interrogatories; application for discovery; and application for inspection of such documents.

4. Extension of time for filing written statement.

If the Court is satisfied that the defendant was prevented by sufficient cause for exceptional and unavoidable reasons in filing the written statement within 30 days, it may extend the time fo