IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY ORDINARY ORIGINAL CIVIL JURISDICTION NOTICE OF MOTION NO. 2643 OF 2008 IN SUIT NO.2526 OF 1988 Mukund Iron Staff Association Co-op Hsg Soc Ltd. ..Plaintiffs Vs. Vasant Ramchandra Patil & Ors. ..Defendants None for the Plaintiffs Mr. V. Bobde i/b M/s. Chitnis Vaithy and Co., for Defendant Nos.3 to 16 and 2A to 2C Mr. Varghese P.M. i/b K.V.Arya & Associates for Defendant Nos. 1A to 1C Mr. Akshay Jadhav i/b M/s. Utangle & Co. for Defendant Nos.2D and 2E CORAM: DR. D.Y. CHANDRACHUD, J. DATE: 25th AUGUST, 2009 P.C. : 1. The suit has been filed on 7th August 1988, for specific performance. A Notice of Motion has now been taken out in the year 2008, for permission to file the Written Statement on behalf of Defendant Nos.3 to 16. Counsel appearing on behalf of the Defendants state that, though the Notice of Motion was taken out for filing a Written Statement on behalf of Defendant Nos.1 to 16, Defendant Nos. 1 and 2 have died. The prayer in the Notice of Motion is, therefore, confined to Defendant Nos. 3 to 16. 2. In the Affidavit in support of the Notice of Motion, it has been stated that, settlement talks were going on between the parties and that the concerned partner in the firm of Advocates engaged by the aforesaid Defendants, died on 13.10.1998, whereafter, the matter remained to be attended. It is stated that, in July 2008, Defendant No.10 was contacted by his Advocates, since the matter had started appearing on the board. 3. A reply has been filed. It has been stated that the delay has not been satisfactorily explained. 4. Though, there is a delay in filing the Written Statement, the interests of justice require that, the aforesaid Defendants should not be deprived of an opportunity to contest the suit on merits. This should be, however, subject to the payment of costs. 5. In the circumstances, the Notice of Motion is made absolute in terms of prayer clause (a) subject to the payment of costs quantified at Rs.5000/-, which shall be a conditional precedent. The costs should be paid to the Plaintiffs within a period of two weeks from today. Permission is granted to Defendant Nos.3 to 16 to file their Written Statement on or before 22nd September 2009. The Notice of Motion is accordingly disposed of. (Dr. D.Y.Chandrachud, J)