STATE OF TELANAGANA Vs. SIDDARTHA CONSTRUCTIONS PRIVATE LIMITED

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The present Civil Revision Petition arises out of an order dtd. 19/3/2024 passed by the Commercial Court at Hyderabad rejecting an application filed by the petitioners for rejection of the plaint under Order VII Rule 11 of The Code of Civil Procedure, 1908.

(2.) The plaintiff/respondent herein had filed a Suit for a direction on the defendants/petitioners herein to pay Rs.29,78,10,763.00 to the plaintiff along with future interest @ 24% p.a. The petitioners filed the present Interlocutory application in the said Suit for rejection of the plaint. The Commercial Court dismissed the petitioners' application on the ground that the Suit filed by the respondent/plaintiff was within the period of limitation i.e., from 15/3/2020 to 28/2/2022 covered by the orders passed by the Supreme Court in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic. The Trial Court was of the view that the issue of limitation, being a mixed question of fact and law, cannot be decided at the threshold and would require adjudication of the pleadings and evidence which are to be led by the parties.

(3.) The other objection taken by the petitioners was on the respondent circumventing the mandatory requirement of pre- institution mediation under sec. 12A of The Commercial Courts Act, 2015. The Trial Court relied on the decision of the Supreme Court in Patil Automation Pvt. Ltd. vs. Rakheja Engineers Pvt. Ltd.,(2022) 10 SCC 1 and held that the mandatory nature of sec. 12A of the Act would only be made applicable on and from 20/8/2022 as held by Patil Automation (supra) and that the Suit, having been filed on 30/11/2021, would hence be saved from the embargo.