Summary Suit | Invoices/ Bills Are “Written Contracts” Within Order 37 CPC: Jammu & Kashmir High Court

The Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh High Court has clarified that invoices/bills amount to “written contracts” within the contemplation of Order 37 of the CPC to initiate a summary suit.

The bench of Justice Javed Iqbal Wani was dealing with a petition moved by the UT administration, original defendant in a summary suit, filed against civil court's refusal to grant unconditional leave to defend the summary suit.

The original plaintiff had sought clearance of dues with respect to certain works executed by it for the Estates Department. The UT had sought leave to defend which was permitted subject to payment of ₹ 37.82 lakh.

The UT government thus moved the High Court, inter alia on the ground of non-existence of a written agreement being a basic requirement for instituting a summary suit under Order 37 of the CPC.

Respondent-plaintiff on the other hand produced a copy of the objections filed by the Petitioner-defendant before the civil court, admitting the execution of works by the Plaintiff as also the bill amount payable to them being of ₹ 37.82 lacs deposited in the Sadder Treasury.

In view of the above, the High Court held,

"Trial Court has rightly refused the grant of unconditional leave to the defendants/petitioners herein. The contentions raised and the grounds urged by the petitioners furthermore do not match the legal principles laid down by the High Court of Delhi in case titled as “M/s Punjab Pen House Vs Samrat Bicycle Ltd.” reported in AIR 1992 Delhi 1, wherein it has been held that the invoices/bills are “written contracts” within the contemplation of Order 37 of the CPC and, as such, the plea raised by the defendants/petitioners herein that there has been no written contract in existence between the plaintiffs/respondent Nos. 1 to 6 herein and the defendants/petitioners herein, entitling them to institute a summary suit under Order 37 of the CPC is not legally sustainable."

The petition was thus dismissed.

Case Title: UT of J&K and others Vs Shabir Ahmad Dar and others

Citation: 2023 LiveLaw (JKL) 126

Counsel For Petitioner: Mr Sajad Ashraf GA

Counsel For Respondent: Mr Manzoor A Dar

Click Here To Read/Download Judgement