- 1 - IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION WRIT PETITION NO.4665 OF 2006 ... Shri Pramod Ramchandra Deshpande ..Petitioner v/s. Sulzer India Ltd. ..Respondent ... Mr.V.G.Mujumdar for the Petitioner. Mr.S.S.Kanetkar for the Respondent. ... CORAM: D.K.DESHMUKH, J. DATED: 29TH FEBRUARY, 2008 P.C.: 1. Rule. Returnable forthwith. Heard finally by consent of parties. - 2 - 2. On being served with the suit summons, the Defendant did not file his written statement. The matter was fixed before the court on 17-3-2003 for filing written statement. The Defendant made an application for time to file written statement. The application was rejected and the suit was directed to be proceeded exparte and the suit was fixed on 25-9-2003. On that date, an application was made along with Written Statement for setting aside "No written Statement" order and taking written statement on record. That application was rejected by order dated 17-12-2005. On the same date, an application was filed for review of that order. That application is rejected by order dated 21-3-2006. 3. It appears that the Petitioner was served with suit summons in January. He filed his written statement on 25-9-2003. True it is, that there is delay in filing the written statement. It is also true that no convincing reason was given by the Defendant for not filing his written statement in time. But the Defendant is willing to pay substantial costs to the Plaintiff. The suit is for damages. Therefore, in view of the willingness of the Defendant to pay substantial costs to the - 3 - Plaintiff, written statement filed by the Defendant deserves to be taken on record. In my opinion, therefore, following order would meet the ends of justice. O R D E R (i) The order dated 17-3-2003 passed by the trial court is set aside. (ii) The written statement filed by the Defendant is ordered to be taken on record. Suit to proceed further. This is subject to deposit of Rs.10,000/- as costs in the trial court within a period of two weeks from today. (iii) On the deposit being made, the trial court shall permit the Plaintiff to withdraw the amount of costs. (vi) Petition disposed of. ...