Important Judgment Reported Today on Delay in filing Written Statement(27th May, 2019) Amaresh Patel LANDMARK JUDGMENT Mon, May 27, 2019, at ,04:41 PM Title of the Case – Delay in filing Written Statement Name of the case – Reliance General Insurance Company Ltd. v. Colonial Life Insurance Company (Trinidad) Limited, Commercial Suit No. 29 of 2013 (Bombay High Court) Date of Judgment – 24th May, 2019 Judges: Justice S.J. Kathawalla Subject and sections involved – Section 15 (4) of the Commercial Courts Act Issue: Whether the mandatory timeline of 120 days for filing a written statement in a Commercial Suit is applicable to suits which were filed prior to the enactment of the Commercial Courts Act, 2015 (“Commercial Courts Act”) and have subsequently been ‘transferred’ as Commercial Suits to be heard by a Commercial Division of this Court ? Fact of the Case: Legislative background of the Act 23rd October, 2015, the Commercial Courts, Commercial Division and Commercial Appellate Division of High Courts Ordinance, 2015 came into force. Primary object to provide speedy disposal of commercial disputes By various further orders, the Ld. Prothonotary & Senior Master directed pending suits and applications relating to commercial disputes of a specified value to be transferred as Commercial Suits and heard by the Commercial Division of this Court. In the present Suit, being one such ‘transferred suit’, Defendant No.1 has not to filed its written statement within the prescribed period of 120 days as mandated under the provisions of the CPC as amended by the Commercial Courts Act. Ratio of the case - Mandatory deadline of 120 days The mandatory timeline of 120 days for filing a written statement in a Commercial Suit is not applicable to suits which were filed prior to the enactment of the Commercial Courts Act, 2015 and subsequently ‘transferred’ as Commercial Suits to be heard by a Commercial Division of this Court. I further hold that a Commercial Division or Commercial Court, as the case may be, may hold Case Management Hearings in respect of such transferred suits under the newly introduced Order XV-A of the CPC to prescribe new timelines or issue further directions including prescribing a new time period within which a written statement shall be filed. The jurisdiction to exercise such discretion is expressly found in Section 15 (4) of the Commercial Courts Act and the proviso thereto.