Gobinda Ch Das v. Smti. Ira Das and 30 Ors

ORDER Date : 19.01.2023

Heard Mr. H. Maurya, the learned counsel appearing on behalf of the petitioner and Mr. Sheeladitya, the learned counsel appearing on behalf of the respondent Nos. 1, 2 & 3. At the outset, it is relevant to take note of that the petitioner herein is the defendant No. 5 in the said suit. The petitioner has invoked the superintending powers of this Court under Article 227 of the Constitution challenging the order dated 26/09/2018 as well as the order dated 07/01/2020. In terms with the order dated 26/09/2018, the learned Trial Court on the ground that the statutory period for filing the written statement was over, rejected the Petition No. 1678/2018 thereby debarring the various defendants including the defendant No. 5 to file their written statement. It further appears that Page No.# 8/9 the defendant No. 5/the petitioner thereupon filed an application before the Trial Court for recalling of the said order dated 26/09/2018. However, the said petition was rejected vide the order dated 07/01/2020 on the ground that there was no reasonable ground for allowing the prayer of the defendant No. 5 for acceptance of the written statement after the lapse of the statutory period of 90 days. The learned counsel appearing on behalf of the petitioner by drawing the attention of this Court to the various orders passed by the Trial Court had submitted that it was only on 21/09/2018 the documents filed in support of the plaint were served upon the petitioner/the defendant No. 5 and as such the period of 90 days could not have been over on 26/09/2018 and this aspect of the matter was brought to the attention of the Trial Court, which was not taken into consideration in passing the order dated 07/01/2020. The learned counsel further submitted that along with the application for recalling the order dated 26/09/2018 the defendant No. 5/the petitioner had also submitted the written statement which was not accepted by the Court below and as such he has approached this Court under Article 227 of the Constitution. On the other hand, Mr. Sheeladitya, the learned counsel appearing on behalf of the respondent Nos. 1, 2 & 3 submitted that in the process of not filing the written statement and subsequent applications being filed and the pendency of the instant proceedings, the very legislative mandate of Order VIII Rule 1 of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908, which stipulates that the written statement ought to be filed within a period of 90 days have been frustrated. He submitted that any further delay in the proceedings on account of that is only harming the plaintiffs, as it is the plaintiffs, who are suffering on account of the delay in respect to the pendency of the instant proceedings. This Court upon hearing the learned counsels for the parties and upon perusal of the materials on record including the orders impugned is of the opinion that the order dated 26/09/2018 by which the defendant No. 5/the petitioner was debarred Page No.# 9/9 from filing the written statement was erroneous inasmuch as it was only on 21/09/2018 the defendant No. 5/the petitioner was served the copies of the documents which were filed in support of the plaint. In that view of the matter, this Court interferes with the order dated 26/09/2018. Taking into consideration that the order dated 07/01/2020 is a fall out of the order dated 26/09/2018 which this Court have already held to be erroneous, this Court further interferes with the order dated 07/01/2020. It is also relevant to take note of that the written statement had already been filed before the Trial Court, but on account of the order dated 07/01/2020, the same has not been accepted. In that view of the matter, this Court therefore, directs the Trial Court to accept the written statement filed by the defendant No. 5 and proceed with the trial in accordance with law. In view of the order passed herein, the order dated 11/01/2021 whereby further proceedings of Title Suit No. 18/2018 has been stayed, is hereby vacated and the parties are directed to appear before the Trial Court on 16th of February, 2023. The registry is directed to inform the Trial Court about the instant order by way of a special messenger. The petition accordingly stands disposed off.

JUDGE Comparing Assistant

PageoNo.#o1/9 GAHC010188692020 ooooooo ooooooooooooooo ooooooooooooooooTHEoGAUHATIoHIGHoCOURTo (HIGHoCOURToOFoASSAM,oNAGALAND,oMIZORAMoANDoARUNACHALoPRADESH)o CaseoNo.o:oCRP(IO)/2/2021o GOBINDAoCHoDASo S/OoLATEoPRANPATIoDAS,oR/OoVILLoANDoP.O.-DADARA,oP.S.-HAJO,oDIST- KAMRUP,oASSAM-781104 VERSUSo SMTI.oIRAoDASoANDo30oORSo W/OoLATEoSAMBHUoRAMoDAS,oD/OoLATEoRAGHUoTHAKURIAo@oRAGHUo KOCH,oR/OoVILL-DADARA,oP.O.-DADARA,oP.S.-HAJO,oDIST-KAMRUP,o ASSAM,oPIN-781104 2:SMTI.oBHARATIoLAHKAR oW/OoLATEoANANTAoLAHKAR oD/OoLATEoRAGUoTHAKURIAo@oRAGHUoKOCH oR/OoVILL-KULHATI oDAMDAMA oP.O.-KULHATI 3:SMTI.oHEMOKANTIoDAS oW/OoSRIoBHUPENoDAS oD/OoLATEoRAGHUoTHAKURIAo@oRAGHUoKOCH oR/OoVILL-NORTHoGUWAHATI oMADHYAMKHANDA oP.O.oANDoP.S.-NORTHoGUWAHATI oPIN-781030 PageoNo.#o2/9 4:SMTI.oJAYAoTHAKURIA oD/OoLATEoRAGHUoTHAKURIA 5:SMTI.oASHADHYAoTHAKURIA oW/OoLATEoRAGHUoTHAKURIA 6:SMTI.oMILANoDAS oW/OoSRIoRAMESHoDAS oR/OoVILL-NORTHoGUWAHATI oSHILSAKO oABHAYPUR oP.S.-NORTHoGUWAHATI oPIN-781030 7:SMTIoBHABANIoDAS oW/OoLATEoNARENoDAS oR/OoVILL-GONDHMOW oP.S.-SUALKUCHI oPIN-781103 8:SARAToTHAKURIA oS/OoLATEoLELEKUoTHAKURIA 9:MD.oABEDoCHOUDHURY oS/OoLATEoBABJANoCHOUDHURY PageoNo.#o3/9 10:MD.oABDULoCHOUDHURY oS/OoLATEoBABJANoCHOUDHURY 11:MD.oMOHIBULoCHOUDHURY oS/OoLATEoBABJANoCHOUDHURY 12:MD.oMOONoCHOUDHURY oS/OoLATEoBABJANoCHOUDHURY 13:SMTI.oCHARUBALAoDAS oW/OoSRIoHARENoKUMARoDAS 14:PABITRAoKUMARoDAS oS/OoLATEoNIBHARSHAoDAS PageoNo.#o4/9 15:SMTI.oBICHITRAoDAS oW/OoLATEoPRANPATIoDAS 16:MUNINDRAoDAS oS/OoLATEoPRANPATIoDAS 17:PRADIPoDAS oS/OoLATEoPRANPATIoDAS 18:SMTIoPINKYoDAS oD/OoLATEoPRANPATIoDAS oC/OoSMTI.oBICHITRAoDAS 19:SMTIoHEMLATAoDAS oC/OoSMTIoSUBHAoDAS PageoNo.#o5/9 20:SMTI.oSUBHAoDAS oD/OoLATEoBHAKTIoDAS oD/OoLATEoBHAKTIoDAS 21:SMTIoRENUKAoDAS oC/OoSMTIoSUBHAoDAS oD/OoLATEoBHAKTIoDAS 22:SMTIoCHANDRAPRABHAoDAS oD/OoLATEoBHAKTIoDAS 23:JAYANTAoBARUAH oS/OoLATEoJOGENoDAS 24:BHABESHoBARUAH oS/OoLATEoJOGENoDAS PageoNo.#o6/9 25:MAHENDRAoBARUAH oS/OoLATEoJOGENoDAS 26:SMTI.oBEAUTYoBARUAH oW/OoLATEoJOGENoDAS 27:GOPALoDAS oS/OoLATEoKAMALAoMEDHI 28:LOHIToDAS oS/OoLATEoKAMALAoMEDHI 29:LILADHARoMEDHI oS/OoLATEoKAMALAoMEDHI 30:BINODoMEDHI oS/OoLATEoKAMALAoMEDHI Page No.# 7/9 P.O.-DADARA P.S.-HAJO DIST-KAMRUP ASSAM PIN-781104 31:SOMIN MEDHI S/O LATE KAMALA MEDHI R/O VILL-DADARA P.O.-DADARA P.S.-HAJO DIST-KAMRUP ASSAM PIN-78110 Advocate for the Petitioner : MR H MAURYA Advocate for the Respondent : MR G BHARADWAJ (R13, R14) BEFORE HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE DEVASHIS BARUAH