SATYANARAYANA SAHU Vs. KHIROD KUMAR SAHU

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The Petitioners are defendants and Opp.Party No.1 is the Plaintiff in C.S. No.86/2022 pending in the Court of learned Civil Judge (Sr. Division), Titlagarh. Opp. Party Nos.2 to 20 are the proforma defendants in the said suit. In the present application, the Petitioner-defendants call in question the correctness of order dtd.7/3/2024 passed by the court below whereby, their application for acceptance of written statement filed belatedly was rejected.

(2.) Bereft of unnecessary details, the facts of the case are that the aforementioned suit has been filed for partition of the suit properties. Upon receipt of summons, the contesting defendants entered appearance but did not file written statement within the stipulated period. It is stated that the Petitioners are residents of Cuttack and are of advanced stage. As such, they had prepared the written statement at Cuttack which being supported by affidavit was notarized at Cuttack. The said written statement was thereafter sent to their Advocate at Titlagarh for filing. The written statement was filed along with an application on 20/1/2023 for acceptance of the same. The Plaintiff-Opp. Party No.1 filed objection to the petition contending that the same was contrary to the provisions of Order III Rule 4 and Order VI Rule 14 of C.P.C. After hearing both parties, the Court below rejected the Petition filed by the defendants for acceptance of the written statement vide order dtd. 7/3/2024. The said order is impugned in the present application.

(3.) Heard Mr. S.S.Rao, learned Senior counsel with Mr. B.K.Mohanty, learned counsel, appearing for the Defendant-Petitioners and Mr. P.K.Rath, learned Senior counsel with Ms. S. Rath, learned counsel appearing for the Plaintiff-Opp. Party No.1.