Civil Revision No.5590 of 2011(O&M) -1- IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH. Civil Revision No.5590 of 2011(O&M) Date of Decision: September 14, 2011 Gurnam Singh Sewak .....Petitioner v. Jarnail Singh and others .....Respondents CORAM: HON'BLE MR.JUSTICE RAM CHAND GUPTA Present: Mr.G.N.Malik, Advocate for the petitioner. ..... RAM CHAND GUPTA, J.(Oral) C.M.No.22341-CII of 2011 Application is allowed subject to all just exceptions. Civil Revision No.5590 of 2011 Petitioner-defendant has invoked supervisory jurisdiction of this Court under Article 227 of the Constitution of India for setting aside order dated 11.4.2011, Anenxure P1, passed by learned Additional Civil Judge, (Senior Division), SAS Nagar, vide which defence of petitioner- defendant was struck off. I have heard learned counsel for the petitioner and have gone through the whole record carefully including the impugned order passed by learned trial Court. Facts relevant for the decision of present revision petition are that on notice being issued to petitioner-defendant of the suit filed by respondents-plaintiffs, he appeared before learned trial Court on 4.1.2011 and sought 2-3 dates for filing written statement and, however, the same was not filed even within 90 days of his first appearance and hence his Civil Revision No.5590 of 2011(O&M) -2- defence was ordered to be struck off vide order dated 11.4.2011. It has been contended by learned counsel for the petitioner- defendant that provision of Order VIII Rule 1 of the Code of Civil Procedure is directory in nature and not mandatory. It is further contended that in fact petitioner-defendant remained ill and remained admitted in Fortis Hospital, Mohali from 20.2.2011 to 21.2.2011 and thereafter he remained admitted in PGI, Chandigarh, from where he was discharged on 3.3.2011 and, however, thereafter he was prescribed bed rest. It has further been contended that though he engaged Shri Harmandeep Singh Saini, Advocate, to pursue his case and, however, due to negligence of that counsel, written statement could not be filed and that he also filed complaint against the said Lawyer before Bar Council of Punjab and Haryana. Hence, in view of these facts, one opportunity can be granted to petitioner-defendant to file written statement and the other party can be compensated by way of cost. Hence, the present revision petition is accepted. Impugned order is set aside. Learned trial Court is directed to grant one opportunity to petitioner-defendant to file written statement subject to payment of `5,000/- as cost, which shall be a condition precedent. Disposed of accordingly. However, at this stage, no notice is being issued to the opposite party, because if the respondents are summoned to contest this litigation, it may involve huge expenditure and unnecessary harassment and delay of the proceedings. For this view, reliance can be placed upon a Division Bench judgment of this Court rendered in Batala Machine Tools Workshop Co- op v. Presiding Officer, Labour Court, Gurdaspur, CWP No.9563 of Civil Revision No.5590 of 2011(O&M) -3- 2002, decided on 27.6.2002, wherein it was observed as under:- “ We are conscious of the fact that the instant order is detrimental to the interest of the respondent-workman. We are also conscious of the fact that no notice has been given to the respondent-workman before the instant order has been passed. The reasons for not issuing notice to the respondent workman is to ensure that he does not have to incur unnecessary expenses in engaging counsel to appear on his behalf in this Court. The instant order by which the present petition is being disposed of fully protects the interest of the respondent-workman inasmuch as the amount determined by the Labour Court, Gurdaspur, by its order dated 22.5.2002 has been required to be deposited by the petitioner- Management before the Labour Court/Labour-cum- Conciliation Officer, Gurdaspur.” However, liberty is granted to the respondents to get this revision petition revived if they feel dissatisfied with this order. 14.9.2011 (Ram Chand Gupta) meenu Judge