TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2005 (11) TMI 466
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....possession and perpetual injunction the appellants were arrayed as defendant Nos. 15 & 1. The suit filed by respondent No. 1 was Special Civil Suit No. 144 of 2003 in the Court of Civil Judge (Senior Division), Latoor. The appellants were summoned under Order V Rule 1 & 5 CPC on 21st October, 2003. They sought time to file the Written Statement and by order dated 29th October, 2003 the trial court granted time till 17.11.2003. On the said date another application was filed for extension of time to file the Written Statement. Time was allowed till 19.2.2004. As 19.2.2004 was a holiday the written statement was filed on 20.2.2004. Trial court refused to accept the written statement on the ground that the written statement was filed beyond the period of 90 days. The appellants filed writ petitions before the Bombay High Court, Aurangabad Bench which were numbered as Writ Petition Nos.2500 and 2501 of 2004. By the impugned order the High Court dismissed the Writ Petitions. The logic as appears from the orders passed by the trial court and the High Court is that there was no scope for granting time to file written statement beyond the prescribed period of 90 days. Learned counsel for t....
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....ced by the Amendment Act with effect from 1.7.2002. The purpose of such like amendments is stated in the Statement of Objects and Reasons as "to reduce delay in the disposal of civil cases". The text of Order VIII, Rule 1, as it stands now, reads as under: - "1. Written statement.- The defendant shall, within thirty days from the date of service of summons on him, present a written statement of his defence: Provided that where the defendant fails to file the written statement within the said period of thirty days, he shall be allowed to file the same on such other day, as may be specified by the Court, for reasons to be recorded in writing, but which shall not be later than ninety days from the date of service of summons." Order VIII, Rule 1 after the amendment casts an obligation on the defendant to file the written statement within 30 days from the date of service of summons on him and within the extended time falling within 90 days. The provision does not deal with the power of the court and also does not specifically take away the power of the court to take the written statement on record though filed beyond the time as provided for. Further, the nature of the provision con....
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....or frustrates the recipient of justice is not to be followed. (See Shreenath and Anr. v. Rajesh and Ors. (AIR 1998 SC 1827) Processual law is not to be a tyrant but a servant, not an obstruction but an aid to justice. Procedural prescriptions are the handmaid and not the mistress, a lubricant, not a resistant in the administration of justice. It is also to be noted that though the power of the Court under the proviso appended to Rule 1 of Order VIII is circumscribed by the words - "shall not be later than ninety days" but the consequences flowing from nonextension of time are not specifically provided though they may be read by necessary implication. Merely, because a provision of law is couched in a negative language implying mandatory character, the same is not without exceptions. The courts, when called upon to interpret the nature of the provision, may, keeping in view the entire context in which the provision came to be enacted, hold the same to be directory though worded in the negative form. Challenge to the Constitutional validity of the Amendment Act and 1999 Amendment Act was rejected by this Court in Salem Advocate Bar Association, Tamil Nadu v. Union of India (JT 2002 ....
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....riving at the conclusion whether a particular provision is mandatory or directory. In Sangram Singh v. Election Tribunal Kotah & Anr. [AIR 1955 SC 425], considering the provisions of the Code dealing with the trial of the suits, it was opined that: "Now a code of procedure must be regarded as such. It is procedure, something designed to facilitate justice and further its ends: not a Penal enactment for punishment and penalties; not a thing designed to trip people up. Too technical construction of sections that leaves no room for reasonable elasticity of interpretation should therefore be guarded against (provided always that justice is done to both sides) lest the very means designed for the furtherance of justice be used to frustrate it. Next, there must be ever present to the mind the fact that our laws of procedure are grounded on a principle of natural justice which requires that men should not be condemned unheard, that decisions should not be reached behind their backs, that proceedings that affect their lives and property should not continue in their absence and that they should not be precluded from participating in them. Of course, there must be exceptions and where the....