RUDRAARADYA Vs. NANJUNDAPPA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Petitioners are Defendants in the suit in O.S. No. 1649/2006. Being aggrieved by the order dated 3-1-2008 passed by the Principal Civil Judge (Sr. Dn.) at Bangalore, wherein the Learned Civil Judge has struck off the defence of the Defendants for non-appearance before the Mediator when the case was posted for the mediation, the Petitioners have filed this writ petition.

(2.) The facts of the case are as follows:

(3.) Pursuant to the notice issued by the Civil Court, the Defendants appeared before the Court and filed written statement. Since there was delay in filing the written statement, on an application being filed by the Defendants for condonation of delay, the learned Civil Judge condoned the delay and permitted the Defendants to file written statement with cost of Rs. 1,200/-. On 29-9-2007, the Learned Civil Judge directed the parties to appear before the Mediators on 6-12-2007 to find out the possibility of settling the matter through Mediators. On 6-12-2007, the Plaintiffs were present, however the Defendants 1 to 3 remained absent. On the same day, the Learned Civil Judge passed an order directing all the parties to be present before the Mediators on 3-1-2008, failing which, necessary orders will be passed. However, on 1-3-2008 also Defendants 1 to 3 remained absent before the Mediator. In view of that, the learned Civil Judge was pleased to struck-off the defence of the Defendants for non-appearance before the Mediators under Order X Rule 4(2) of Code of Civil Procedure.