IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH Civil Revision No. 5799 of 2009 Date of Decision : December 04, 2009 Balbir Singh ....Petitioner Versus Gurudwara Sahib, village Lohgarh and others .....Respondents CORAM : HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE T.P.S. MANN Present : Mr. S.K.S.Bedi, Advocate for the petitioner. Mr. Abhinav Oberoi, Advocate for respondents No.1 and 2. T.P.S. MANN, J. (Oral) The defendant-petitioner is aggrieved of the order passed by the learned trial Court on 8.1.2009 whereby his defence was struck off on account of non filing of the written statement. Challenge has also been laid to the order passed by the learned trial Court on 12.8.2009 whereby his application under Section 151 C.P.C. read with Order VIII Rule 1 C.P.C. for recalling the aforementioned order, was dismissed. Perusal of the impugned orders would reveal that the defendant-petitioner had first appeared before the learned trial Court on 18.8.2008 and although a period more than 90 days had elapsed, no written statement was filed on his behalf. C.R. No. 5799 of 2009 -2- Learned counsel for the petitioner submits that on 8.12.2008, an application was filed by the petitioner before the learned trial Court for rejection of the plaint. The matter was adjourned to 8.1.2009 for filing reply. However, on 8.1.2009, the learned trial Court did not pass any order on the application for rejection of the plaint but proceeded to strike off the defence of the petitioner on account of non filing of the written statement. It is also submitted that immediately after passing of the order by the trial Court while striking off the defence of the petitioner, an application under Section 151 C.P.C. read with order VIII Rule 1 C.P.C. was filed and alongwith the same written statement was also filed. Prayer has, therefore, been made that the written statement appended with the aforementioned application filed by the petitioner on 8.1.2009 before the learned trial Court may be taken into consideration by the trial Court during the trial of the suit. Learned counsel for respondents No.1 and 2 states that the petitioner had already availed a number of opportunities for filing his written statement but despite the same, he did not do so. Instead, he came up with the application for rejection of the plaint. His only aim was to delay the filing of the written statement and decision of the suit. Therefore, no case was made out for grant of any relief to the petitioner. Without commenting upon the merits of the stand taken on behalf of the petitioner but keeping in view the interest of justice, the present revision is disposed of by directing the learned trial Court to take C.R. No. 5799 of 2009 -3- the written statement, already filed on behalf of the defendant-petitioner alongwith his application under Section 151 C.P.C. read with order VIII Rule 1 C.P.C., on the record, subject to payment of Rs.10,000/- as costs. The matter is stated to be fixed before the learned trial Court for 4.1.2010. The costs be paid by the defendant-petitioner on the said date and the learned trial Court shall ensure that the same are disbursed to the plaintiffs-respondents. ( T.P.S. MANN ) December 04, 2009 JUDGE ajay-1