ORAL ORDER

"A. Call for the records;

C. To allow I.A.No.1, dated: 24/09/2024, filed under Order VII Rule 11 Read with Sec. 151 of Code of Civil Procedure in Com. O.S.No.26/2024, on the file of the Court of LXXXVII Additional Commercial Court & Sessions Judge, Bangalore; and consequently This Hon'ble Court be pleased to reject the Counter Claim filed in Com. O.S.No.26/2024, pending on the file of The Court of LXXXVII Additional Commercial Court & Sessions Judge, Bangalore;

2. Learned counsel appearing for the petitioner submits that pre-institution mediation as available under Section 12A of the Commercial Courts Act, 2015 is to be afforded to a counterclaim also.

"7. The afore-narrated facts are not in dispute. The issue in the lis lies in a narrow compass, as to whether before the counter claim could be registered by the defendants, compliance under Section 12A of the Act should be followed all over again, notwithstanding the fact that Section 12A of the Act had been complied prior to the institution of the suit.

“12A. Pre-Institution Media