SHANTIDEVI RAMCHANDRA HALWAI (SINCE DECEASED REP. BY HER LRS)versusM/S. LOTLIKAR HOUSE OF PETROLEUM REP. BY ITS PARTNERS AND 6 ORS

2026:BHC-GOA:269



                                              wp-122-2026


          Suzana

                     IN THE HIGH COURT OF BOMBAY AT GOA

                           WRIT PETITION NO.122 OF 2026


             1. Mrs. Shantidevi Ramchandra
             Halwai, (Since deceased Rep by her
             legal heirs),

             a) Mr. Bharatlal Ramchandra
             Halwai, S/o. Late. Mr. Ramchandra
             Halwai, 56 Years of Age, Resident of
             2nd floor, flat no. 5 & 6, Housing
             Board Colony, Opposite MPT
             Workshop, Baina, Vasco-Da-Gama.

             b) Mr. Munnalal Halwai, 55 Years of
             Age, S/o. Late. Mr. Ramchandra
             Halwai, R/o. Flat No. 1, 5th floor,
             F.F Complex, Swathantra Path,
             Above Bank of Baroda, Vasco-Da-
             Gama, Goa.

             c) Mr. Bijay Prakash Halwai, 52
             Years of age, S/o. Late. Mr.
             Ramchandra Halwai, Resident of
             2nd floor, flat no. 5 & 6, Housing
             Board Colony, Opposite MPT
             Workshop, Baina, Vasco-Da-Gama.

             d) Mrs. Geeta Gyanprakash Gupta,
             53 Years of age, D/o Late. Mr.
             Ramchandra Halwai, Resident of
             2nd floor, flat no. 5 & 6, Housing
             Board Colony, Opposite MPT
             Workshop, Baina, Vasco-Da-Gama.                …..Petitioners.


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      Versus

1. M/s. Lotlikar House of
Petroleum, A Partnership Firm,
Represented by its following
partners,

2. Shri. Sudesh Sharadchandra
Lotlikar, Major in age, s/o. late
Sharadchandra Lotlikar,
(Since deceased Rep. Through his
Legal heirs at Sr. Nos. 3 & 6)

3. Smt. Sharmila Sudesh Lotlikar,
Major in age, w/o Sudesh Lotlikar,
Both R/o. H. No. 59, Near
Ramnathi     Temple,    Ramnath,
Ponda-Goa.

4. Smt. Priyanka Jawalkar, alias
Swapnaja Sharadchandra Loltlikar,
Major in Age, W/o. Chandrakant
Jawalkar.

5. Shri. Chandrakant Jawalkar,
Major in Age, S/o. Rajaram
Jawalkar,

Both R/o. Flat No. B-203, Sylvan
Heights, Sanewadi, Aundh Pune.

6. Shri. Saurabh Sudesh Lotlikar,
Major in Age, S/o. Sudesh Lotlikar,
R/o. H. No. 59, Near Ramnathi
Temple, Ponda Goa.
Power of Attorney holder of
Defendant no. 4 & 5.

7. Adv. Shrikant Nayak, Major in
Age, Advocate, Having office at S-,
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     Ramnathkar Apartments, Upper
     Bazaar, Ponda-Goa.                                     …Respondents.


Mr. Nigel Da Costa Frias, Advocate with Mr. Savio Misquita, Advocate for
the Petitioner.


Mr. Surendra Desai, Senior Advocate with Ms. Riddhi Azgaonkar,
Advocate for the Respondents.


                               CORAM: VALMIKI MENEZES, J.
                               DATED: 17th FEBRUARY, 2026.
ORAL JUDGMENT:

1.     Registry to waive office objections and register the matter.


2.     Service on Respondents No.1 to 6 is complete. None appears when

called out.


3.    Rule. Rule is made returnable forthwith with the consent of learned

Counsel for the parties.


4. This Petition assails an Order of 01.07.2025 passed by the Civil Judge

Senior Division (Commercial) Court at Ponda in Commercial Suit

No.3/2001/A. The impugned Order dismisses an application at Exhibit

D-141 on the record of the trial Court, which is an application for seeking

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leave to produce additional documents in terms of Rule 5 of Order 11 CPC

as applicable to the procedure contemplated under the Commercial

Courts Act, 2015.


5.    On a perusal of the plaint, there are averments contained therein

and refers to conversations between the Plaintiff and Defendant No.7,

which were recorded on CDs. In the plaint, it is the case of the Plaintiff

that eight of such CDs were given to the Police, during investigation

conducted on a complaint against Defendant No.7 and a forensic report

with regard to these CDs was also obtained and forms part of a

chargesheet which was filed against Defendant No.7 and is pending trial.


6.     It is the Petitioner's case that, though averments referring to the

four documents, now sought to be produced in the application at Exhibit

D-141, have been made today, the 4 documents referred to were

inadvertently not relied upon in the List of Documents appended to the

plaint nor were they produced in the plaint. The application at Exhibit D-

141 has been filed in terms of Rule 5 of Order 11 applicable to the

Commercial Courts Act, to justify and establish reasonable cause for their

non-production and non-disclosure at the time of filing the plaint.

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7.    On going through the impugned Order, the only reason set out for

rejection of the application is that a transcript of the voice recording has

not been produced along with the 3 CDs relied upon. There are no

reasons set out in the Order for rejecting the application qua the leave to

produce the forensic report which is the fourth document relied upon.


8.    The provisions of Rule 5 of Order 11 as applicable to Commercial

Courts prohibits the Plaintiff from producing a document which is in his

power or possession or custody, which was not disclosed at the time of

filing the plaint, unless the Plaintiff seeks leave of the Court, which shall

be granted only upon the Plaintiff establishing reasonable cause for non-

disclosure of the document along with the plaint. An application to that

effect was filed by the Plaintiff at Exhibit D-141.


9.    However, instead of considering whether the Plaintiff has

established reasonable cause as required by Rule 5 of Order 11, whilst

passing the impugned Order, the trial Court has proceeded to reject the

application on a ground which is totally extraneous to the consideration

as required to be shown under Rule 5 of Order 11, i.e. for want of filing a

transcript of the voice recording. This, as one sees from Rule 5 of Order

11, is not at all a requirement and cannot be a ground for rejecting the
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application. The transcript of a voice recording may at most assist the

Court in considering the relevance of the transcript, but cannot be a

ground for rejecting the application, as the sole ground can be found in

Rule 5.


10.   In this view of the matter, the impugned Order dated 01.07.2025

has obviously been passed without considering the requirements of Rule

5 and is therefore required to be quashed and set aside.


11.   For the reasons stated above, the impugned Order dated

01.07.2025 is quashed and set aside, and the application at Exhibit D-141

is remanded back to the Commercial Court at Ponda, which shall now

hear the parties afresh and consider the application under Rule 5 of Order

11 CPC as applicable to the Commercial Courts, by applying the

considerations in aforementioned Rule and decide the application on its

own merits.


      The next date set down by the Commercial Court is 10.03.2026, on

which date or on any date convenient to the Commercial Court, Exhibit

D-141, shall be heard and disposed of afresh, on its own merits.


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                  12.     Rule is made absolute in terms of the prayer clause (a) and the

                  observations made above. No costs.




                                                           VALMIKI MENEZES, J.




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                                               17th February 2026
Signed by: MARIA SUZANA REBELLO
Designation: Personal Assistant
Date: 18/02/2026 14:23:20