Civil Revision No. 7215 of 2008 (1) In the High Court of Punjab & Haryana at Chandigarh Civil Revision No. 7215 of 2008 (O&M) Date of decision : 11.2.2009 State of Punjab and others ..... Petitioners vs Surinder Pal Sharma and another ..... Respondents Coram: Hon'ble Mr. Justice Rajesh Bindal Present: Mr. B. B. S. Teji, Advocate, for the petitioners. Ms. Meenakshi, Advocate, for respondent no. 1. Mr. Mukand Gupta, Advocate, for respondent no. 2. Rajesh Bindal J. In the present petition, the challenge is to the orders dated 25.7.2007 and 16.9.2008 passed by the learned court below, whereby on account of non-filing of written statement by the petitioner-State, its defence was struck off. The proceedings in the present case arise out of a suit for declaration filed by the plaintiff/respondent no. 1. Learned State counsel submitted that written statement could not be filed in time due to procedural delay which is beyond the control of the petitioner-State. He has submitted that the officials responsible for not taking steps to file written statement in time are being charge sheeted.The defence of the petitioner-State was struck off on 25.7.2007. Even application filed by the petitioner-State to place on record written statement was also dismissed on 16.9.2008. He further submitted that no effective proceedings have taken place after the passing of the impugned orders. He has relied upon judgments of Hon'ble the Supreme Court in Kailash vs Nanhku and others, JT 2005(4) SC 204; Salem Advocate Bar Association, Tamil Nadu v. Union of India, JT 2005(6) SC 486 and M/s R. N. Jadi and Brothers and others v. Subhashchandra, JT 2007(9) SC 165 to submit that Order VIII Rule 1 of the Code of Civil Procedure has been held to be directory in nature and not mandatory. Civil Revision No. 7215 of 2008 (2) After hearing learned counsel for the petitioner-State, I find merit in the contentions raised by him. It has been consistently opined by Hon'ble the Supreme Court in the judgments, referred to above, that Order VIII Rule 1 of the Code of Civil Procedure, which provides time for filing of written statement, is directory in nature. Accordingly, the petition is accepted. Written statement already filed before the learned court below is directed to be taken on record. However, the same shall be subject to payment of Rs. 2,500/- as costs to respondent no. 1/plaintiff. As it is a suit filed by a retired employee, the Trial court is directed to dispose of the same expeditiously. 11.2.2009 ( Rajesh Bindal) vs. Judge