IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT PATNA C.R. No.206 of 2008 1. Lallan Dubey 2. Babban Dubey 3. Bshisth Dubey All sons of Aliyar Dubey & resident of village Kekarha, P.S. Mohania, District Kaimoor at Bhabhua ………Defendants 1st party-Petitioners. Versus 1. Parwati Devi wife of Prabhu Narayan Singh resident of village Kekarha, P.S. Mohania, District Kaimoor at Bhabhua……..Plaintiff-Opposite party 2. Babban Singh son of late Bikrama Singh resident of village Kekarha, P.S. Mohania, District Kaimoor at Bhabhua,…….Defendant 2nd party-Opposite party. For the petitioners : Mr. Jitendra Kr. Pandey, Advocate. For the opposite parties : None. ----------- 03/ 08.12.2009 Heard learned counsel for the petitioners. 2. This civil revision has been filed by defendants 1st party-petitioners challenging order dated 13.12.2007 by which their application under Order VIII Rule 10 of the Code of Civil Procedure was rejected by learned Subordinate Judge-I, Bhabhua in Title Suit No.124 of 2005. 3. The aforesaid suit was filed by the plaintiff-opposite party no.1 for declaration of her title with respect to the suit land detailed in Schedule ‘K’ of the plaint and for other ancillary reliefs. In the said suit the defendants-petitioners appeared through their counsel on 12.09.2005 but did not file their written statement for about two years without giving any rhyme and reason and hence vide order dated 14.08.2007 the learned court below debarred them from filing any written statement. 2 4. It transpires that after more than 90 days of the said order dated 14.08.2007 the defendants-petitioners filed their written statement on 14.11.2007 along with an application for accepting the said written statement. The said application has been rejected by the learned court below vide its order dated 13.12.2007 against which the instant civil revision has been filed. 5. Although learned counsel for the petitioners vehemently challenges the aforesaid order of the learned court below, but it is quite apparent that admittedly the defendants- petitioners appeared in the suit in the year 2005 and for two years did not take step for filing their written statement. Furthermore, when they were debarred from filing their written statements on 14.08.2007 again, no such application was filed immediately thereafter rather the defendants-petitioners allowed the period of 90 days to expire and only thereafter they filed an application along with their written statement on 14.11.2007. 6. The ground for delay as mentioned by the defendants-petitioners is that they are poor and illiterate persons living at some distance and sometime was spent in obtaining the relevant documents. It is also stated that the trial in the suit has not yet commenced. It may be noted that the commencement of the trial is nothing to do with the proceeding of Order VIII Rule 1 and 10 of the Code of Civil Procedure, rather the said provision specifically provides that written statement has to be filed within 30 days from the date of receipt of summons and the court can 3 extend the time up till 90 days, but here not only 90 days but also after two and a quarter years the said written statement had been filed, although in the meantime they were debarred from filing their written statements. 7. This court as well as the Hon’ble Apex Court has specifically dealt with such matters in case of Smt. Sunita Devi & Ors. vs. Abdhesh Kumar Sinha @ Kamleshwari Pd. Sinha & Ors., reported in 2005(2) PLJR 482 as well as in case of Kailash vs. Nanhku and Ors., reported in 2005 (3) PLJR (SC)241. Considering the aforesaid decisions and the facts of this case it is quite apparent that the grounds taken by the petitioners for explaining the delay are not at all convincing nor on such frivolous grounds the application of the defendants-petitioners could be entertained. 8. In the aforesaid circumstances, this court does not find any illegality in the impugned order of the learned court below nor does it find any jurisdictional error therein. Accordingly, this civil revision is dismissed. harish/ ( S. N. Hussain, J. )