Under Order VIII Rule 7 the respondent/defendant is required to file his response withing 30 days of receiving summons and copy of plaint. This 30 days can be extended by another 60 on an application being made. If plaint copy is not received, period of 30 will run only from receiving copy of plaint and documents.
Is there any mandatory response period for the summon
My wife has filed for the annulment of our marriage. While both of us want dissolution of marriage, she has included a whole bunch of false allegations in the suit, which never took place. I received the summon about 20 days ago and the first hearing is supposed to happen in a family court in the first week of Feb 2023. I intended to submit my response to the suit during the first hearing. However, I recently came across some youtube videos that mentioned that the defendant needs to submit the response to allegations in the suit within 30 days of receiving the summon otherwise the court may provide an ex-parte resolution without allowing me an opportunity to respond. Following is the youtube video suggesting my concern: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gNCYEtw7LuI&t=1s You tube Video is titled: "This is the most common mistake you must avoid as a Defendant in a Civil Suit" I have following questions 1) Is it true that if I do not respond to the summon within 30 days court may completely reject my response on the day of first hearing and provide ex-parte resolution.
Asked 3 years ago in Family Law
Religion: Hindu
8 Answers
In Desh Raj's case, the Supreme Court had clearly held that the time lines provided for filing of the written statement in a non- commercial suit were only directory and not mandatory.
hiwever it is advisable to file written statement at the earliest
Thank you for your response. I have one follow up question. Since the summon that I received did not mention anything about this 30 day period, nor did it ask me to submit a response of any sort and only required me to appear before the court in the first week of Feb, 1) is it expected to be in the general knowledge of common masses that they have to respond to a summon within 30 days? 2) if the answer to question 1 is no, then is a common man expected to panic immediately as soon as he sees the summon and contact a lawyer right away who in turn is expected to provide this 30 day period information to the client. I appreciate the answers provided to me and I am just curious about the knowledge of law that a common man is expected to have
Asked 3 years ago
Family Court Act, 1984 (for short, "the Act"), provides that the procedure in the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 "generally" applies to proceedings before the Family Courts. The word "generally" in Section 10 of the Act suggests to my mind and indicates that a slightly liberal approach can be adopted in such matters so that matrimonial divorce actions are determined after full-fledged contest between the parties so that no dispute remains
2) layman is expected to contact a lawyer on receipt of summons who would guide him as to period within which written statements have to be filed
Firstly you do not believe such rumors.
The you tube information what you came across do not suit your case.
The summons served on you clearly states that you are required to appear before court on a date in Feb-2023.
You will be given a chance to file your response after your first appearance before court.
Therefore you can prepare the response and fil;e it at the time of first appearance before court.
1. You will not be entertained by court before the court date as mentioned in the summons, hence do not be under any such misguidance.
2. You can contact a lawyer of your choice in the local or elsewhere with the summons and take his advise on further proceedings, instead of worrying over your imaginary concerns.
You need to file the written statement within 90 days of receipt of summons. you need to be present in court on dare of hearing as stated in summons
Dear Client,
Immediately after service of summons is affected on you, you are required to file your reply, which is called written statement, within 30 days from the date of service. (Order VIII, rule 1).
- As per law, if the summon of the court has already served upon the opposite party , and he failed to appear before the court personally or through his lawyer , then the court may pass ex-parte decree.
- Further, as per Civil Procedure Code, the opposite party should reply to the petition within the period of 30 days from the date of receiving the said summon.
- However , as per the latest supreme court judgement ,this not applied in case of family court , if the opposite party has a reasonable cause of delay.
- Hence, if you are unable to appear before the court personally then engage a lawyer to appear on your behalf for taking time to file the reply of the case.
