Time For Oral Arguments Limited By Delhi High Court For Final Hearing In Commercial Suit [Read Order]

The Delhi High Court has set the time limit for oral arguments during the stage of final hearing of a commercial suit.

Jusitce Rajiv Sahai Endlaw passed the order in an application filed under Order XV-A CPC for Case Management Hearing by the plaintiff in a commercial suit. The plaintiff's counsel submitted that he will not take more than 45 minutes in his opening argument and not more than 30 minutes in rejoinder argument.

The judge initially enquired whether Rule 2 & 3 of Order XV-A CPC, which deals with fixing time limits during trial, is applicable at the stage of final arguments. In this regard, the plaintiff brought to the Court's attention the judgment in Indian Bank v Maharashtra State Co-operatie Marketing Federation, which held that the word 'trial' is of wide import, covering proceedings from the institution of suit till final judgment. 

The Court held that for the purposes of Order XV-A as applicable to commercial suits, "trial" includes 'final argument stage' as well.

The defendant refused to commit to any time limit.

In this backdrop, the application was disposed of, holding that the plaintiff will be bound by the time limits stated by it. The court said that it will fix time limits for defendant's arguments, if need arises.

Read Order