C.R. No. 5685 of 2010 -1- IN THE PUNJAB AND HARYANA HIGH COURT AT CHANDIGARH C.R. No. 5685 of 2010 Date of Decision : 07.09.2010 karnail Singh .......... Petitioner Versus Ashok Singh & another ...... Respondents CORAM : HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE VINOD K. SHARMA Present : Mr. R.S. Modi, Advocate for the petitioner. **** VINOD K. SHARMA, J. (ORAL) The petitioner has invoked the revisional jurisdiction of this Court to challenge the orders dated 5.2.2010 and 31.7.2010, passed by the learned Courts below, vide which defence of the petitioner was ordered to be struck off for not filing the written statement within the stipulated period of 90 days, as prescribed under order 8 Rule 1 of the Code of Civil Procedure. The impugned order reads as under :- “Written statement and reply to injunction application not filed on behalf of defendant No.2. This defendant appeared on 24.10.2009 through his counsel. A period of more than 90 days has expired. Again date is requested. There is no justification for granting further adjournment for this purpose. Therefore, defence of defendant No.2 is struck of. Reply to application u/s 10 CPC filed. C.R. No. 5685 of 2010 -2- Copy supplied. To come up on 8.3.2010 for consideration. The petitioner has also challenged the order dated 4.9.2010, passed by the learned trial Court vide which application moved by the petitioner for recalling the order, referred to above, was declined on the ground that no ground for review was made out. The order of review does not suffer from any illegality, however, as the basic order is challenged, the petitioner only prays that in the interest of justice petitioner be granted one last opportunity to file the written statement prior to the date fixed by the Court, which is 7.10.2010. In view of the stand taken by the learned counsel for the petitioners, and without going into merits of the case, specially when provisions of Order 8 Rule 1 of the Code of Civil Procedure are merely directory and not mandatory, this revision petition is allowed, the impugned order is set aside. The petitioner is granted one last opportunity to file the written statement prior to the date fixed in the Court. However, this shall be subject to payment of ` 5,000/- (Rupees five thousand only) as costs. In view of the order passed, the challenge to the order dated 31.7.2010 has been rendered infructuous. The learned trial Court is directed to proceed with the case after taking written statement on record. Revision allowed. 07.09.2010 (VINOD K. SHARMA) 'sp' JUDGE