In a defining judgement, the Supreme Court has held that the amendment to the Code of Civil Procedure fixing a time limit of 90 days for filing a written statement in response to a suit did not take away the power of courts to extend the deadline in the interest of justice.
"Procedural law is not to be a tyrant but a servant, not an obstruction but an aid to justice,'' a bench comprising Mr Justice Arijit Pasayat and Mr Justice R V Raveendran said while stressing that a procedural law should not ordinarily be construed as mandatory.
''Merely because a provision of law is couched in a negative language implying mandatory character, the same is not without exceptions,'' the court said, while interpreting the amended order VIII Rule 1 which casts an obligation on defendants to file their written statements within 90 days of the service of summons.
The provision neither dealt with the power of courts nor it did specifically take away the power of courts to take on record written statements filed beyond the time provided for, the court said.
Setting aside a Bombay High Court judgement, the bench noted that while interpreting the provision inserted vide an amendment in 1999, courts have to keep in view the entire context in which it came to be enacted.
The judgement, written by Mr Justice Pasayat, pointed out that the amendments, which came in force in 2002,