In Brief
The Supreme Court allowed civil appeals filed by nine defendants in a money recovery suit, setting aside the High Court's rejection of their application to file written statements. The defendants had failed to file written statements within the 30-day and extended 120-day periods from service of summons. However, the Supreme Court held that its March 2020 pandemic-related orders, subsequently clarified in March 2021 and thereafter, excluded the lockdown period from the computation of both limitation periods and the outer limits for condonable delay in filing written statements in commercial suits. Accordingly, the defendants' application filed in January 2021 was within time, and their written statements were directed to be taken on record.
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