The Telangana High Court on Thursday set aside two orders of the Ranga Reddy Commercial Court that had allowed government authorities to file documents nearly three years after submitting their written statements. The division bench, hearing the matter with quiet intensity through the afternoon, repeatedly questioned whether “misplaced documents” could be stretched into a legally acceptable excuse.
Background
The dispute stems from two commercial suits filed by M/s Sri Vishnu Constructions, seeking recovery of more than ₹14 crore combined, relating to alleged outstanding payments in government works. The State and its departments, acting as defendants, had failed to file their documents at the required stage-even though they were referred to in their written statements.
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Years passed. Evidence progressed. Witnesses were examined. The defendants’ chance to present evidence was even forfeited at one point. Then came a sudden flurry of applications: officials claimed the documents were “misplaced” and had been found only during a later search. The Commercial Court accepted this explanation and allowed most of them to be placed on record. Sri Vishnu Constructions
Court’s Observations
The High Court bench, comprising Justice Moushumi Bhattacharya and Justice Gadi Praveen Kumar, took a far tougher view of the situation.
The judges noted that the 2015 Commercial Courts Act brought in strict disclosure obligations, requiring all documents in a party’s “power, possession, control or custody” to be filed along with the written statement. Mere mention in pleadings does not satisfy the law.
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At one point, Justice Bhattacharya remarked, “The statute demands diligence. A defendant cannot turn non-compliance into justification merely by saying the documents were referenced earlier.” Sri Vishnu Constructions
The bench emphasised that under Order XI Rule 1(10), additional documents can be brought later only if “reasonable cause” is proved—an intentionally high threshold. Simply saying papers were misplaced, the judges observed, falls far short of that requirement.
The court also rejected the Commercial Court’s reasoning that the plaintiff had not denied the relevance of the documents. “Relevance is not the test,” the bench observed. “Compliance with mandatory procedure is.” Sri Vishnu Constructions
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Decision
In the end, the High Court held that the Commercial Court had “erred in law” by relaxing statutory requirements without any real justification.
Both revision petitions filed by Sri Vishnu Constructions were allowed, and the orders dated 10 June 2025 permitting the delayed documents were set aside in full.
The matter will now proceed without those belated documents forming part of the record. Sri Vishnu Constructions
Case Title: M/s Sri Vishnu Constructions vs. State of Telangana & Others
Case Numbers: Civil Revision Petition Nos. 2677 and 2572 of 2025
Case Type: Civil Revision Petitions arising from Commercial Court orders
Decision Date: 14 November 2025
