TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2023 (10) TMI 155
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....nts since the limitation period for filing the written statements had expired on 08.03.2020. The High Court has further held that, as held in Sagufa Ahmed and Others Vs. Upper Assam Plywood Products Private Limited and Others (2021) 2 SCC 317, since the orders of this Court under Article 142 of the Constitution of India extended only "the period of limitation" and not the period up to which delay can be condoned, the applications for taking on record the written statements cannot be entertained. Relevant Facts: 3. To understand the correctness or otherwise of the judgment impugned, the following basic facts are necessary:- i) On 30.08.2019, the respondent herein - IL and FS Financial Services Limited (the plaintiff) filed a suit for recovery of money along with other consequential reliefs in C.S. No. 177 of 2019 on the file of the High Court at Calcutta. There were nine defendants. The said nine defendants are appellants before us. ii) On 07.02.2020, summons was served in the suit on the defendants. Being a Commercial Suit, the 30-day period for filing written statements expired on 08.03.2020. On 06.06.2020, the further condonable period of 90 days also expi....
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....dgment of this Court in Prakash Corporates vs. Dee Vee Projects Limited, (2022) 5 SCC 112 submitted that much water has flown after the judgment of Sagufa Ahmed (supra). 6. According to the learned Senior Counsel, Prakash Corporates (supra) while noticing the orders of 23.03.2020, 06.05.2020 and 10.07.2020 also deals with the directions in the orders of 08.03.2021, 27.04.2021 and 23.09.2021 made in the same In re: Cognizance for Extension of Limitation. Noticing these subsequent orders, according to the learned Senior Counsel, the Court has, in paras 28.1, 28.2 and 33.4 of Prakash Corporates (supra) has, for the reasons set out therein, distinguished Sagufa Ahmed's case (supra). The said paragraphs are extracted herein below:- "28.1. Having regard to the purpose for which this Court had exercised the plenary powers under Article 142 of the Constitution of India and issued necessary orders from time to time in SMWP No. 3 of 2020, we are clearly of the view that the period envisaged finally in the order dated 23.09.2021 is required to be excluded in computing the period of limitation even for filing the written statement and even in cases where the delay is otherwise not ....
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.... juncture, that this Court stepped in and after taking suo motu cognizance passed orders under Article 142 of the Constitution of India extending the deadlines. The extraordinary situation was dealt with rightly by extraordinary orders protecting the rights of parties by ensuring that their remedies and defences were not barred. 11. In suo motu proceedings titled In Re: Cognizance for Extension of Limitation, series of orders came to be passed. Those orders are dated 23.03.2020, 06.05.2020, 10.07.2020, 08.03.2021, 27.04.2021 and 23.09.2021. The orders are not repeated since the relevant portions are extracted in Prakash Corporates (supra). 12. However, the orders of 23.03.2020 and 08.03.2021 are extracted herein below to show the contrast between the orders that obtained when Sagufa Ahmed (supra) was pronounced and the orders passed post- Sagufa Ahmed (supra). Sagufa Ahmed (supra) was pronounced on 18.09.2020 when the orders of 23.03.2020, 06.05.2020 and 10.07.2020 were in vogue. The order of 23.03.2020 in In Re: Cognizance for Extension of Limitation reads as under: - "This Court has taken Suo Motu cognizance of the situation arising out of the challenge faced by th....
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....hat was extended was the period of limitation. 14. It was on this basis that Sagufa Ahmed's case (supra) decided on 18.09.2020 held in para 17 as under:- "17. But we do not think that the appellants can take refuge under the above order in Cognizance for Extension of Limitation, In re. What was extended by the above order of this Court was only "the period of limitation" and not the period up to which delay can be condoned in exercise of discretion conferred by the statute......." 15. Contrasting the order of 23.03.2020 with 08.03.2021, which order of 08.03.2021 is reiterated in the orders of 27.04.2021 and 22.09.2021, the following emerges. The order of 08.03.2021 needs to be extracted first. "1. Due to the onset of COVID-19 pandemic, this Court took suo motu cognizance of the situation arising from difficulties that might be faced by the litigants across the country in filing petitions/applications/suits/appeals/all other proceedings within the period of limitation prescribed under the general law of limitation or under any special laws (both Central or State). By an order dated 27.03.2020 this Court extended the period of limitation prescribed under the g....
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....is disposed of accordingly" 16. A perusal of para 2.3 of the above order shows that this Court directed that the period from 15.03.2020 till 14.03.2021 will stand excluded in computing:- a) the period prescribed under 23(4) and 29-A of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996; b) Section 12-A of the Commercial Courts Act, 2015; c) provisos (b) and (c) of Section 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881; and (d) any other laws which prescribe period of limitation for instituting proceedings, outer limits (within which the court or tribunal can condone delay) and termination of proceedings. 17. As would be clear from hereinabove, the very basis of the judgment in Sagufa Ahmed (supra) that under the 23.03.2020 order, only the period of limitation has been extended and not the period up to which delay can be condoned, has been taken away by expanding the protection by excluding the period even for computing outer limits within which the court or tribunal can condone delay. This is an important subsequent aspect which has a great bearing in deciding the present controversy. 18. Prakash Corporates case (supra) also notices the fact that t....