VANITA BATHLA vs SMT. SHASHI BAJAJ

Judgment text excerpt

$~ * IN THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI Reserved on: 09th January, 2026 Date of Decision :16th January, 2026 + CM(M) 1762/2025, CM APPL. 57124/2025 & CM APPL. 70629/2025 VANITA BATHLA .....Petitioner Through: Mr. Kirti Uppal and Mr. Anurag Ahluwalia, Senior Advocates with Mr. Ankit Banati, Mr. Umang Tyagi, Mr. Zuber Ali, Ms. Archisha Satyarthi and Mr. Siddharth Sharma, Advocates. versus SMT. SHASHI BAJAJ .....Respondent Through: Mr. Roshan Santhalia, Ms. Kavya Arora and Mr. Himanshu Kumar Pathak, Advocates. CORAM: HON’BLE MR. JUSTICE RAJNEESH KUMAR GUPTA ORDER 1. The present petition has been filed by the petitioner/defendant under Article 227 of the Constitution of India assailing the order dated 07th August, 2025 (hereinafter referred to as the “Impugned Order”) passed by the trial Court in CS (COMM) 364/2023, whereby the trial Court has rejected the plea raised by the petitioner alleging the non-compliance of the mandatory requirement of pre-institution mediation under Section 12A of the Commercial Courts Act, 2015 (hereinafter referred to as the ‘the Act’) before filing of the suit. Signature Not Verified CM(M) 1762/2025 Page 1 of 9 Signed By:NAMITA DHYANI Signing Date:16.01.2026 16:14:50 2. Learned Senior Counsels on behalf the petitioner have argued that as the respondent has failed to exhaust the mandatory remedy of pre-institution mediation under Section 12A of the Act, and also that the suit does not disclose any case of “urgent interim relief”, so the plaint is liable to be rejected in accordance with law. The plaint in this respect is vague, non- specific, and a mere eyewash intended to circumvent the mandatory provisions of Section 12A of the Act. The application of the respondents seeking exemption from pre-institution mediation is still pending which