Written statement delay under civil procedure may be excused where court-granted time and a holiday prevented timely filing.

Order VIII Rule 1 CPC is procedural and, in appropriate circumstances, does not absolutely bar acceptance of a written statement filed beyond ninety days. The provision was treated as directory because it advances expedition in trial but does not expressly exclude the court's discretion or prescribe an automatic consequence for default. Where the trial court itself granted time beyond the prescribed period and filing on the last date failed only because that date was a holiday, refusal to take the written statement on record was unjustified. Procedural rules should not prejudice a party for an act of court or for an impossible situation not attributable to that party.

---

---

Issues: Whether a written statement filed beyond ninety days from service of summons could be refused to be taken on record when the court itself had granted time beyond that period and the filing on the last date failed only because that date was a holiday.

Analysis: Order VIII Rule 1 of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 is procedural and is intended to expedite civil trials, but it does not expressly take away the court's power to accept a written statement filed beyond the prescribed period in an appropriate case. The provision, though couched in restrictive language, was treated as directory in the context of the statute, the object of the amendment, and the absence of an express consequence for non-compliance. The Court also applied the equitable principles that procedure is the handmaid of justice, that an act of court should prejudice no one, and that the law does not compel the impossible. Since the trial court itself had granted time up to a date beyond ninety days and the written statement was filed on the next working day because the fixed date was a holiday, refusal to accept it was unjustified.

Conclusion: The written statement could not be rejected on the ground of delay in the facts of the case, and the refusal to take it on record was held unsustainable.

Ratio Decidendi: A procedural time limit prescribed for filing a written statement under Order VIII Rule 1 of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 is directory in appropriate circumstances, and the court may not penalize a when delay results from the court's own order or from an impossible situation not attributable to the party.

---