Sujit Narayan Prasad J. - (1.) This writ petition is under Article 227 of the Constitution of India whereby and whereunder order dated 29.09.2014 as also order dated 14.01.2016 passed in Title Suit No. 1 of 2014 have been assailed.
(2.) The brief facts, of the case, as per the pleadings made in the writ petition, is that title suit, being Title Suit No. 1 of 2014 has been filed by respondent/plaintiff for declaration of right and title over the suit property, in which, notice has been issued to the petitioners/defendants on 20.01.2014, which has been received by them sometime in March, 2013 and accordingly they have appeared before the trial Court on 15.04.2014 and thereafter written statement has been filed on 26.06.2014, but the trial Court has debarred the petitioners/defendants from filing written statement in Title Suit No. 1 of 2014 since it has been filed after lapse of period of statutory period, against which, the petitioners/defendants have filed petition dated 01.07.2014 for recall of order dated 26.06.2014, which has been rejected, against which, the petitioners/defendants have filed review petition under Section 148 of the Code of Civil Procedure, which was rejected vide order dated 14.01.2016; hence, the present writ petition has been filed by the petitioners.
(3.) This Court before going into the legality and propriety of the impugned orders, deem it fit and proper to make reference of Order VIII Rule (1) CPC, which reads as under: 1.Written Statement. The defendant shall, within thirty days from the date of service of summons on him, present a written statement of his defence: Provided that where the defendant fails to file the written statement within the said period of thirty days, he shall be allowed to file the written statement on such other day, as may be specified by the Court, for reasons to be recorded in writing and on payment of such costs as the Court deem it, but which shall not be later than one hundred twenty days from the date of service of summons and on expiry of one hundred twenty days from the date of service of summons the defendants shall forfeit the right to file the written statement and the Court shall not allow the written statement to be taken on record. From the above provision, it is evident that Order VIII Rule 1 provides that the defendant shall file written statement within thirty days from the date of service of summons on him provided that where the defendant fails to file the written statement within the thirty days from the date of summons upon him, he shall be allowed to file the written statement on such other day, as may be specified by the Court, for reasons to be recorded in writing but shall not be later than 90 days from the date of expiry of 30 days.;