Ashok Kumar Kalra v Wing Cdr Surendra Agnihotri

• The defendant filed a written statement on 2 December 2008 and a counter-claim on 15 March 2009 in the same suit. The trial court rejected the objection that the counter-claim was filed after the written statement. The High Court allowed the plaintiff's revision and quashed the counter-claim. The question was referred to a larger bench.

1. Whether O.VIII R.6A bars a counter-claim filed after the written statement, and if not, what restrictions apply.

• R.6A does not bar a counter-claim after the written statement; its only restriction concerns the accrual of the cause of action. But the defendant has no absolute right to file it with substantial delay. The outer limit is the framing of issues. Before that, the court may admit it after weighing illustrative factors: delay, limitation, reasons for delay, assertion of the right, similarity of cause of action, cost of fresh litigation, injustice and abuse of process, and prejudice to the other side.

Procedural rules serve substantive justice, but they must also prevent delay. The court's discretion to admit a belated counter-claim is guided by the listed factors and ends with the framing of issues.