Original Side Rules On Accepting Counterclaim & Reply Need Amending Due To Rigidity Of S.18 Of Commercial Courts Act: Calcutta HC Frames Guidelines

The Calcutta High Court has held that the court's original side rules on accepting of plaint and counterclaim need to be amended due to the rigidity of Section 18 of the Commercial Courts act. While serving the notice with copy of the Counter-claim on the plaintiff, it shall be ensured that the copies of all documents relied by the Defendant in support of the counter-claim are simultaneously delivered to the plaintiff The appeal involved the question of whether the timeline specified in Order VIII Rule 1 as amended by the Commercial Courts Act, 2015 would apply to the timeline within which the reply to the counterclaim in the written statement, sometimes also referred to as an additional written statement, is to be filed by the plaintiff. Senior counsel appearing on behalf of the appellant submitted that the Commercial Courts Act has not specifically dealt with the right of the plaintiff to file additional pleadings, there have been no amendments to the Code of Civil Procedure as far as the time limit prescribed for filing additional written statement under the Commercial Courts Act, 2015. It is thus submitted that when the learned Single Judge has not fixed any time period for filing the reply to the counter claim on acceptance and in absence of any amendment in the CPC with regard to the time limit prescribed for filing reply to the counter statement under the Commercial Court Acts, 2015, the reply to the counter claim would not have been rejected on a plea that by reason of amendment to Order VIII Rule 1 of the Code of Civil Procedure, the time to file additional written statement should be considered from the date of filing of the written statement with counter claim.