IN THE COURT OF XXXXXX; LD. DISTRICT JUDGE; (COMMERCIAL COURT-01);

DIST. SOUTH; SAKET COURTS; NEW DELHI.

CS (COMM) NO. XXXXX

IN THE MATTER OF :-

XXXXXXXXXX           : PLAINTIFF

VERSUS

XXXXXXXXXX           : DEFENDANTS

                                                          D.O.H: xxx 

INDEX

DELHI                                                                 DEFENDANTS

THROUGH

DATED                                                              

ADVOCATE

IN THE COURT OF xxx ; LD. DISTRICT JUDGE; (COMMERCIAL COURT-01);

DIST. SOUTH; SAKET COURTS; NEW DELHI.

CS (COMM) NO. XXXXX

IN THE MATTER OF :-

XXXXXX                                         : PLAINTIFF

VERSUS

XXXXXX                                         : DEFENDANTS

                                                          D.O.H: xx 

WRITTEN STATEMENT ON BEHALF OF DEFENDANTS TO THE SUIT FOR RECOVERY OF RS.12,44,383/- WITH PENDENTE LITE AND FUTURE INTEREST.

At the outset, it is submitted that the Plaint deserves at the threshold as the reliefs so sought are not only legally untenable but also the Plaint has been instituted by concealment of material facts, information, and crucial documents. Before adverting to the preliminary objections upon the maintainability of the Suit and para-wise reply to the averments in the Suit, a brief true factual narrative has been advanced to tender correct position before this Hon’ble Court.

PRELIMINARY SUBMISSIONS/OBJECTIONS:-

1.                 That the present suit filed by the Plaintiff is not maintainable in the eyes of law, and the present claim is per se malicious and has been filed for oblique and ulterior motives. It is stated that the Plaintiff has apart from filing the present suit, made unfounded and disparaging allegations in its plaint against the answering Defendants, and the Defendants reserves the right to initiate the legal action as warranted under the law against the Plaintiff.

2.                 It is submitted that the present suit is a gross abuse of the process of law, and the Plaintiff has instituted the present proceedings knowingly that the present suit is not on merits and is without any base. The Plaintiff has initiated the present proceedings to harass and intimidate the answering Defendants.

3.                 It is further submitted that the present suit is completely devoid of merit(s), and hence the present suit is liable to be dismissed.

4.                 That without prejudice to the rights and contentions of the Defendants, and without admitting any of the allegations raised by the Plaintiff, it is most respectfully submitted that the documents filed by the Plaintiff along with the suit cannot be relied upon while deciding the present suit for the reason that the Plaintiff has submitted and relied upon fabricated and false documents. Moreover, the terms and conditions of the documents relied upon by the Plaintiff, which have been incorporated by the Plaintiff itself and that being in an arbitrary manner in a way to benefit the Plaintiff only.

5.                 It is further submitted that Plaintiff’s representatives, on a regular basis and through medium of phone calls, contacted/ approached the Defendants offering/ providing lucrative schemes, including but not limited to schemes related to business loans, credit facility under the PMMY etc., but all such calls/attempts of Plaintiff’s representatives were ignored by Defendants. In the month of Sept. 2016, Claimant’s representatives contacted/ approached the Defendants several times offering the credit facility under the PMMY to the Defendant, wherein the Plaintiff assured that Defendant will only be bound to pay an interest being around 8.90% p.a. on the amount of credit facility availed by the Defendants under the PMMY Scheme for a sum of Rs.10 Lakhs.

6.                 It is further submitted that subsequent to request of the Defendants seeking the credit facility, the Plaintiff, sanctioned the loan which had to be paid back by the Defendants along with interest being around 8.90% payable in equal instalments, from the account of the Defendant no.1.

7.                 It is further submitted that at the time of Defendants meeting with the representatives of the Plaintiff, the Defendants were requested to sign the numerous agreements (including loan agreement and other agreements and pronote, undertaking, etc.), letters etc. in respect of the loan availed by Defendants. It is pertinent to note that at the time of signing the Loan Agreement, Pronote, undertaking by the Defendants, the Agreements and Pronote and undertaking was not signed and/or stamped by the representatives of the Plaintiff, moreover, several clauses were left blank and needed to be filled, and they contained details regarding the financial values based upon which the loan was availed by the Defendants including the interest. Further, the Defendants upon enquiring/requesting the representatives of the Plaintiff to fill in the details, it was informed to the Defendants that these details would be filled later on by the top management level concerned officials/representatives of the Plaintiff who were authorised to execute and stamp the said documents. It was assured to the Defendants that the terms and conditions of the Agreements, pronote and undertaking etc. would be in accordance with the terms and conditions mutually and verbally agreed between the Defendants and the representatives of the Plaintiff.

8.                 It is further submitted that subsequent to the signature of the Defendants on the Agreements and pronote, undertaking; the Defendants were requested to sign blank pages also and on being enquired about the same, as to why the Defendants are required to sign blank pages, it was informed by the representatives of the Plaintiff that this is a normal and regular process being followed, and it was assured to the Defendants that this is the procedure which the Plaintiff and other banks follow, and is a completely normal/standard procedure.

9.                 It is further submitted that subsequent to the loan being disbursed, the Defendants in good faith and without any malicious intentions, regularly paid monthly instalments to the Plaintiff without any delay and/or raising objections in any manner whatsoever. It is pertinent to note that the Defendants regularly paid all the due instalments to the Plaintiff, but in March, 2020 business of the Defendants was ruined due to Covid-19 and national wide lockdown. EMI for this loan facility was paid smoothly for 5-6 years. Based on good repayment record of the Defendants, Defendants were offered GECL Offer Utter for Guaranteed Emergency Credit Line (GECL) and the Defendants was availed the said credit facility and sanctioned a credit of Rs. 1,95,000/- vide Sanction Memorandum on 13.08.2020. A serious of lockdowns during the pandemic left a serious and dilapidating adverse effect on the business of the Defendants suffered huge losses till date due to loss of contact / communication with the clients and lack of demand in the market due to Covid-19. Hence the losses starting accumulating from March, 2020 onwards, but the Defendant still did not let EMI payments to the bank get affected till then the Plaintiff itself suddenly stopped taking the EMI from the account of the Defendants and the Defendants contacted the officials/ representatives of the Plaintiff with the purpose of making payment of the amount left/due to the Plaintiff by the Defendants. However, to the utter shock of the Defendants, the total amount due/claimed by the Plaintiff was much more than what the Defendants had to pay, and upon making numerous inquiries with the representatives of the Plaintiff, it was discovered by the Defendants that the Plaintiff has been charging interest at a rate of more than agreed interest with the Plaintiff. 

10.             It is further submitted that the account of the Defendants has been illegally and wrongly declared / classified as a NPA (Non-Performing Asset) without complying with the guidelines issued by the RBI from time to time. It is mandatory that creditors must inform the circumstances and manner in which the account has been classified as NPA as well as the date on which the account was declared as NPA. The same has, admittedly, not been done in the present case. In this regard, it is submitted that the RBI has issued guidelines with respect to classification of accounts as NPA and the classification has to be in strict compliance of the said guarantee. It is further submitted that no rationale or basis for the same has been provided or mentioned in the plaint. Therefore, the classification of the account as NPA is bad in law and untenable under the clear guidelines laid down by RBI.

11.             In this regards it is relevant to state that in the matter of Stan Commodities Vs PNB through its Chairman and Ors. (Manu/JH0602/2008). Thus it is the basic principle of natural justice that affected party has a right to be heard before any action is taken. In the present case, admittedly, the said procedure has not been followed, which clearly establishes that the approach of the Bank is arbitrary and unfair, incomplete denial of principles of natural justice and in violation of Articles 11 and 19 of the Constitution of India.

12.             It is submitted that the Plaintiff is illegally claiming an amount of Rs.12,44,383/- with further interest at contractual rate, thereby unreasonably inflating the amount. It is submitted that based on inflated and exaggerated claim no action can be taken under the provisions of the CPC. It seems that in view of inflated and exaggerated claim the Plaintiff has intentionally not supplied the statement of account along with the suit under reply which further establishes malafide beyond doubt. In view thereof, it is stated that the present under reply deserves to be dismissed.

13.             That the alleged recovery amount as mentioned in the plaint is exorbitant and is not the actual amount due and payable. Plaintiff is charging inflated rate of interest and compounding the same. The alleged recovery further establishes that even penal interest is being charged and the same is also being compounded. In fact, charging of penal interest has been admitted in the present suit itself and the alleged quantification of claim also establish that the same is being compounded.

14.             It is further submitted that the Respondents throughout the course of the transactions which took place between the Defendants and the Plaintiff, completely trusted the Plaintiff and never imagined that the Plaintiff would cheat the Defendants and raise false and frivolous allegations against the Defendants, and the last thing that the Defendants ever expected was to be cheated/ mislead by a nationalized bank. Subsequently, the Defendants made several inquiries with the officials of the Plaintiff by meeting them on a regular basis seeking clarifications about the interest rate charged, and the total amount payable. The representatives/officials of the Plaintiff were earlier reluctant to help/assist the Defendants regarding their issue of high interest rate being charged to them, leading to which the Defendants pressurized the representatives of the Plaintiff of going to consumer court(s) and filing a written complaint against the Plaintiff, to which the representatives of the Plaintiff started looking into the inquiries raised by the Defendants. Further, the Defendants requested to provide a revised statement which will show in detail the total amount due by the Defendants to the Plaintiff, and the Defendants were also requested not to make further payments till then. Howsoever, till date, the Defendants have not received any such revised statement(s), but to the utter shock the captioned proceedings has been filed.

15.             It is respectfully submitted that the present suit is not maintainable as the Plaintiff has concealed material facts from this Hon’ble Court and made false and frivolous averments knowing the same to be false with the malicious intention to defraud this Hon’ble Court, hence the claim is liable to be dismissed.

16.             It is most respectfully submitted that a Plaintiff /litigant should approach the court with all material facts, and not conceal anything relevant, and come up with “clean hands”. The word “material facts” has been explained in several cases. Further, in a somewhat similar vein, the Supreme Court, in its earlier decision reported that suppression of a material fact by a litigant disqualifies him from obtaining any relief. The rule has been evolved out of the need for the courts to deter a litigant from abusing the process of the court by deceiving it. The suppressed fact must be a material one in the sense that bad it not been suppressed it would have had an effect on the merits of the case, and the present suit is to be dismissed on this ground alone.

PARAWISE REPLY ON MERITS:-

The Defendants craves leave of this Hon’ble Court to refer to the contents of the above mentioned Preliminary Objections and Submissions, which may be read as part and parcel of the present reply on merits.

1.                 That the contents of para No.1 of the plaint are wrong and denied. It is denied that recovery of debt for sum of Rs.12,44,383/- due and payable by the Defendants either jointly or severally to the Plaintiff against the various documents and agreement raised by the Plaintiff against Defendant before the sanction of loan facility.

2.                 That the contents of para No.2 of the plaint is need no reply and want of knowledge.

3.                 That the contents of para No.3 of the plaint are matter of record, hence, need no reply.

4.                 That the contents of para No.4 of the plaint are matter of record, hence need no reply.

5.                 That the contents of para No.5 of the plaint are matter of record, hence need no reply. It is the Plaintiff who approached the Defendants for availing a credit facility under PMMY Scheme. That the contents of the preliminary submission and objection may be treated as a part and parcel of the present para and the same are not repeated herein for the sake of brevity.

6.                 That the contents of para No.6 of the plaint are admitted to the extent that the credit facility availed by the Defendants. That the contents of the preliminary submission and objection may be treated as a part and parcel of the present para and the same are not repeated herein for the sake of brevity.

7.                 That the contents of para No.7 of the plaint are wrong and denied. That the contents of the preliminary submission and objection may be treated as a part and parcel of the present para and the same are not repeated herein for the sake of brevity.

8.                 That the contents of para No.8 of the plaint are matter of record. It is the Plaintiff who again approached the Defendants for renewal of credit facility. That the contents of the preliminary submission and objection may be treated as a part and parcel of the present para and the same are not repeated herein for the sake of brevity.

9.                 That the contents of para No.9 of the plaint are wrong and denied. That the contents of the preliminary submission and objection may be treated as a part and parcel of the present para and the same are not repeated herein for the sake of brevity.

10.             That the contents of para No.10 of the plaint are wrong and denied. That the contents of the preliminary submission and objection may be treated as a part and parcel of the present para and the same are not repeated herein for the sake of brevity.

11.             That the contents of para No.11 of the plaint are needs no reply. That the contents of the preliminary submission and objection may be treated as a part and parcel of the present para and the same are not repeated herein for the sake of brevity.

12.             That the contents of para No.12 of the plaint are needs no reply. That the contents of the preliminary submission and objection may be treated as a part and parcel of the present para and the same are not repeated herein for the sake of brevity.

13.             That the contents of para No.13 of the plaint are wrong and denied. That the contents of the preliminary submission and objection may be treated as a part and parcel of the present para and the same are not repeated herein for the sake of brevity.

14.             That the contents of para No.14 of the plaint are wrong and denied. It is denied that in initial transaction, the Defendant made some timely payments to the Plaintiff but thereafter the Defendant availed irregular credit and did not dear the due as stipulated in the agreements. It is further denied that however, due to financial indiscipline, the account of the Defendant slipped to NPA on 29.05.2022 and after vigorous follow up and persuasion, no regularization of account could be affected on part of the Defendant. That the contents of the preliminary submission and objection may be treated as a part and parcel of the present para and the same are not repeated herein for the sake of brevity.

15.             That the contents of para No.15 of the plaint are wrong and denied. It is denied that in view of the various defaults committed by the Defendants in payment of principal, interest and other Monies due under the said Loan Agreements and also in performance of the terms and conditions of the above- said Loan Agreements, like creation of Cash Credit Agreement in question, the plaintiff became entitled to recall the entire amounts of its said Loans together with all interest and other monies thereon under the said Loan Agreements as due and payable forthwith and accordingly. That the contents of the preliminary submission and objection may be treated as a part and parcel of the present para and the same are not repeated herein for the sake of brevity.

16.             That the contents of para No.16 of the plaint are wrong and denied. It is denied that the Defendants did not appear before the SDLSA despite notice being sent to the Defendants. That the contents of the preliminary submission and objection may be treated as a part and parcel of the present para and the same are not repeated herein for the sake of brevity.

17.             That the contents of para No.17 of the plaint are wrong and denied. It is denied that the plaintiff is filing the true and certified extracts of the loan account of the Defendant No. 1. That the contents of the preliminary submission and objection may be treated as a part and parcel of the present para and the same are not repeated herein for the sake of brevity.

18.             That the contents of para No.18 of the plaint are wrong and denied. It is denied that the cause of action for filing the present suit first arose when the Defendants approached for availing Credit facility and the same was sanctioned on dated 17.09.2016. It is further denied that it again arose on dated 16.11 2020 when the Defendants approached the Plaintiff bank for renewal of the Credit facilities and the same was sanctioned. It is further denied that it again arose when the Defendants again approached for GECL on dated 13.08.2020 which was duly sanctioned. It is further denied that it further arose when the loan account slipped to NPA on 29.05.2022. IT is further denied that subsequently, it again arose on 30.04.2022 when the Defendant made his last payment in his loan Account. It is farther denied that it arose on 21.09.2022 when the Plaintiff under Section 2 (c) (vi) of the Commercial Courts Act, 2015 filed an Application under Section 12A of the Act before the South District Legal Service Authority and it again arose when the notice was issued by SDLSA to the Defendant to appear for notifying about the application and finally it arose on 22.11.2022 when the SDLSA issued a certificate for non-starter mediation. It is further denied that the cause of action is still subsisting as the Defendant has not regularized its NPA account yet. That the contents of the preliminary submission and objection may be treated as a part and parcel of the present para and the same are not repeated herein for the sake of brevity.

19.             That the contents of para No.19 of the plaint are needs no reply. That the contents of the preliminary submission and objection may be treated as a part and parcel of the present para and the same are not repeated herein for the sake of brevity.

20.             That the contents of para No.20 of the plaint are wrong and denied. It is denied that the present suit is maintainable under CPC. That the contents of the preliminary submission and objection may be treated as a part and parcel of the present para and the same are not repeated herein for the sake of brevity.

21.             That the contents of para No.21 of the plaint are wrong and denied. It is denied that the Plaintiff bank is entitled to pendent lite and future interest inclusive of interest debited up to 17.08.2022 along with interest @8.90% p.a. compounded monthly, with 2% penal interest which includes pre litigation mediation period on the sum of Rs.12,44,383/-. That the contents of the preliminary submission and objection may be treated as a part and parcel of the present para and the same are not repeated herein for the sake of brevity.

22.             That the contents of para No.22 of the plaint are wrong and denied. That the contents of the preliminary submission and objection may be treated as a part and parcel of the present para and the same are not repeated herein for the sake of brevity.

23.             That the contents of para No.23 of the plaint are wrong and denied.

Prayer clause along with sub para are liable to be rejected in light of the above preliminary submissions, preliminary objections and response hereinabove. Hence, the present suit of the Plaintiff is liable to be dismissed with heavy costs.

PRAYER:-

In view of the above facts and circumstances, it is most respectfully submitted by the Defendants that the Plaintiff is not entitled to any of the relief(s) as claimed in the prayer of the suit since the suit of the Plaintiff is false and the same is based on manipulated, imaginary and baseless facts and the same is devoid of any merits.

It is therefore most respectfully prayed that the suit of the Plaintiff be dismissed with exemplary costs. Pass any order or order(s) as the Hon’ble Court deems fit and proper in the facts and circumstances of the present case in the light of justice equity and good conscience.

DELHI                                                                DEFENDANTS

THROUGH

DATED                                                              

ADVOCATE

VERIFICATION :-

Verified at New Delhi on this ___ day of March, 2024 that the contents of paras No.1 to 23 of the written statement are true and correct to the defendant’s knowledge and as per legal information received and believed to be true, further, the contents of paras 1  to ….. of the preliminary submissions and objections are true and correct to the answering defendants’ knowledge and as per legal information received and believed to be true.

Last is the prayer to this Hon’ble Court.

DEFENDANTS

IN THE COURT OF XXXXX; LD. DISTRICT JUDGE; (COMMERCIAL COURT-01);

DIST. SOUTH; SAKET COURTS; NEW DELHI.

CS (COMM) NO. XXXX.

IN THE MATTER OF :-

XXXXXX            : PLAINTIFF

VERSUS

XXXXXX             : DEFENDANTS

AFFIDAVIT

Affidavit of Sh. XXXX, Partner of XXXX, having Office at XXXXXXX., do hereby solemnly affirm and declare as under:

1.                 That I am the Defendant no.2 and Partner of Defendants No.1 in the above case and am thoroughly conversant with the facts and circumstances, pursuant to the information provided to me, thereof and am competent to swear this affidavit.

2.                 That the accompanying written statement to the plaint, have been drafted by my counsel as per my instruction and the contents of the same have been duly read over and understood by me and after fully understanding the contents of the same.

DEPONENT

VERIFICATION :-

Verified at New Delhi on ___ day of March, 2024 that the contents of above affidavit are true and correct to my knowledge, no part of it is false and nothing material has been concealed therefrom.

DEPONENT

IN THE COURT OF XXXXX; LD. DISTRICT JUDGE; (COMMERCIAL COURT-01);

DIST. SOUTH; SAKET COURTS; NEW DELHI.

CS (COMM) NO. XXXX

IN THE MATTER OF :-

XXXXXX                     : PLAINTIFF

VERSUS

XXXXXX                       : DEFENDANTS

AFFIDAVIT

Affidavit of Sh. XXXXXX, Partner of XXXXXXX, having Office at XXXXX., do hereby solemnly affirm and declare as under:

1.       That I am the Defendant no.3 and Partner of Defendants No.1 in the above case and am thoroughly conversant with the facts and circumstances, pursuant to the information provided to me, thereof and am competent to swear this affidavit.

2.       That the accompanying written statement to the plaint, have been drafted by my counsel as per my instruction and the contents of the same have been duly read over and understood by me and after fully understanding the contents of the same.

DEPONENT

VERIFICATION :-

Verified at New Delhi on ___ day of March, 2024 that the contents of above affidavit are true and correct to my knowledge, no part of it is false and nothing material has been concealed therefrom.

DEPONENT

IN THE COURT OF XXXXXX; LD. DISTRICT JUDGE; (COMMERCIAL COURT-01);

DIST. SOUTH; SAKET COURTS; NEW DELHI.

CS (COMM) NO. XXXX

IN THE MATTER OF :-

XXXXXX                                         : PLAINTIFF

VERSUS

MXXXXX                     : DEFENDANTS

AFFIDAVIT

Affidavit of Sh. XXXX, Partner of XXXXX, having Office at XXXXXX., do hereby solemnly affirm and declare as under:

1.       That I am the Defendant no.4 and Partner of Defendants No.1 in the above case and am thoroughly conversant with the facts and circumstances, pursuant to the information provided to me, thereof and am competent to swear this affidavit.

2.       That the accompanying written statement to the plaint, have been drafted by my counsel as per my instruction and the contents of the same have been duly read over and understood by me and after fully understanding the contents of the same.

DEPONENT

VERIFICATION :-

Verified at New Delhi on ___ day of March, 2024 that the contents of above affidavit are true and correct to my knowledge, no part of it is false and nothing material has been concealed therefrom.

DEPONENT

IN THE COURT OF XXXXX; LD. DISTRICT JUDGE; (COMMERCIAL COURT-01);

DIST. SOUTH; SAKET COURTS; NEW DELHI.

CS (COMM) NO. XXXX

IN THE MATTER OF :-

XXXXX                         : PLAINTIFF

VERSUS

XXXXX                          : DEFENDANTS

APPLICATION FOR AND ON BEHALF OF THE APPLICANTS / DEFENDANTS UNDER ORDER 8 RULE 1 OF C.P.C. R/W SECTION 151 OF C.P.C. AND R/W SECTION 5 OF LIMITATION ACT, FOR CONDONATION OF DELAY IN FILING OF WRITTEN STATEMENT.

MOST RESPECTFULLY SHOWETH :-

1.       That the captioned plaint has been filed by the plaintiff against the defendants before this Hon’ble Court and same is pending before this Hon’ble Court for today.

2.       That pursuant to the filing of the present Suit the applicants / answering Defendants were aghast owing to the untenable claims of the Plaintiff vis-a-vis the title of the Suit Property. It is further submitted that the Plaintiff was not supplied the complete set of paper book of the plaint and this fact was also apprised by the Defendants to this Hon’ble Court on the last date of hearing, therefore this Hon’ble Court itself supplied the complete paper book of the plaint to the Defendants from the court record on the last date of hearing. During this period the office of the Counsel for the Defendants is under construction and files / records of the cases were misplaced due to shifting, due to the same Counsel for the Defendants was unable to prepare the written statement within period of limitation. Hence, in the absence of said file / documents, it is not possible to prepare the written statement and same cannot be filed as per the direction of this Hon’ble Court which was neither intentional nor deliberate, hence, the written statement is within limitation from the date of receiving of completion copy of the present suit and the same is filing before this Hon’ble Court.

3.       That due to above said reason the written statement has not been filed by the defendants and delay has been caused and now the applicant / defendants is filing the present application for condone the delay in filing of the written statement and may allow the present application and written statement of the defendants may kindly be taken on record.

PRAYER:-

It is therefore respectfully prayed that this Hon’ble Court may be pleased to allow the present application and may be condoned the delay in filing the written statement before this Hon’ble Court, in the interest of justice.

Pass such further order or orders as this Hon’ble Court may deem fit and proper in the facts and circumstances of the case and may pass in favour of the answering defendants, in the interest of justice.

It is prayed accordingly,

DELHI                                                                DEFENDANTS

THROUGH

DATED                                                              

ADVOCATE

IN THE COURT OF XXXXXXX; LD. DISTRICT JUDGE; (COMMERCIAL COURT-01);

DIST. SOUTH; SAKET COURTS; NEW DELHI.

CS (COMM) NO. XXXX

IN THE MATTER OF :-

XXXXXX                                         : PLAINTIFF

VERSUS

XXXXXX                                         : DEFENDANTS

AFFIDAVIT

Affidavit of Sh. XXXXX, Partner of XXXXX, having Office at XXXXXXX., do hereby solemnly affirm and declare as under:

1.       That I am the Defendant no.2 and Partner of Defendants No.1 in the above case and am thoroughly conversant with the facts and circumstances, pursuant to the information provided to me, thereof and am competent to swear this affidavit.

2.       I say that I have gone through the contents of the accompanying application under Order 8 Rule 1 r/w Section 151 of CPC has been drafted by my counsel at my instructions and the same is correct as part of this affidavit as well, as those are not being repeated herein for the sake of brevity and to avoid repetition.

DEPONENT

VERIFICATION:-

Verified at Delhi on this ___day of March, 2023 that the contents of the aforesaid affidavit are true and correct to best of my knowledge and belief no part of it is false and nothing material has been concealed therefrom.

DEPONENT