Lenient view should be adopted by the Court during the production of documents under O. 8 R.1A(3)- Supreme Court
In the case of Sugandhi (dead) by Lrs. & ANR v. P. Rajkumar Rep. by his Power Agent Imam Oli, (CIVIL APPEAL NO. 3427 OF 2020), the Supreme Court had stated that the court should take a lenient view when an application is made for the production of the documents under subrule (3) of Rule 1A, order 8.
The facts of the case initiate with the present appeal which is directed against the Order dated 19.02.2019 passed by the High Court of Judicature at Madras, Madurai Bench, in C.R.P.(NPD)(MD)No.2609 of 2018 whereby the High Court has dismissed the revision petition filed by the appellants challenging the refusal to entertain an application under Order 8 Rule 1A(3) of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 (for short ‘C.P.C.’) seeking leave of the court to produce additional documents.
The appellants herein are the defendants in the suit, O.S. No.257 of 2014, on the file of the Principal SubJudge, Pudukottai, and the respondent is the plaintiff. For the sake of convenience, parties are referred to in their respective positions before the Trial Court. The
plaintiff filed the suit for injunction alleging that the defendants are attempting to grab the suit schedule property. When the suit was posted for the evidence of the defendants, they filed an application seeking leave to produce certain documents. It was contended that they had recently traced these documents related to the suit property and that was why they could not produce them along with the written statement. This application was opposed by the plaintiff. The Trial Court by its Order dated 11th October, 2018 dismissed the application. As noticed above, the High Court has confirmed the order of the Trial Court.
Mr. R. Anand Padmanabhan, learned counsel appearing for the appellantsdefendants, submits that the said documents are necessary for just determination of the case. He argued that the courts below have rejected the application on flimsy grounds. On the other hand, Mr. S. Mahendran, learned counsel appearing for the respondentplaintiff, has supported the impugned orders of the courts below. It is argued that the defendants are not entitled as a matter of right to produce the documents, particularly when the plaintiff has concluded his evidence.
It had been held in the present case that “Subrule (1) mandates the defendant to produce the documents in his possession before the court and file the same along with his written statement. He must list out the documents which are in his possession or power as well as those which are not. In case the defendant does not file any document or copy thereof along with his written statement, such a document shall not be allowed to be received in evidence on behalf of the defendant at the hearing of the suit. However, this will not apply to a document produced for cross examination of the plaintiff’s witnesses or handed over to a witness merely to refresh his memory. Subrule (3) states that a document which is not produced at the time of filing of the written statement, shall not be received in evidence except with the leave of the court. Rule (1) of Order 13 of C.P.C. again makes it mandatory for the parties to produce their original documents before settlement of issues.”
“Subrule (3), as quoted above, provides a second opportunity to the defendant to produce the documents which ought to have been produced in the court along with the written statement, with the leave of the court. The discretion conferred upon the court to grant such leave is to be exercised judiciously. While there is no straight jacket formula, this leave can be granted by the court on a good cause being shown by the defendant.”
“ It is often said that procedure is the handmaid of justice. Procedural and technical hurdles shall not be allowed to come in the way of the court while doing substantial justice. If the procedural violation does not seriously cause prejudice to the adversary party, courts must lean towards doing substantial justice rather than relying upon procedural and technical violation. We should not forget the fact that litigation is nothing but a journey towards truth which is the foundation of justice and the court is required to take appropriate steps to thrash out the underlying truth in every dispute. Therefore, the court should take a lenient view when an application is made for production of the documents under subrule (3).”
“ Coming to the present case, the defendants have filed an application assigning cogent reasons for not producing the documents along with the written statement. They have stated that these documents were missing and were only traced at a later stage. It cannot be disputed that these documents are necessary for arriving at a just decision in the suit. We are of the view that the courts below ought to have granted leave to produce these documents.”
“ Therefore, for the foregoing reasons, the appeal succeeds and it is accordingly allowed. The orders impugned herein are set aside. The application (I.A. No.551 of 2018 in O.S. NO.257 of 2014) filed by the appellantsdefendants before the Principal SubJudge, Pudukottai, is accordingly allowed. Parties to bear their own costs.”
Click here to read the judgment
Does your website have a contact page? I’m having trouble locating it but,
I’d like to shoot you an e-mail. I’ve got some recommendations for your blog you might be interested in hearing.
Either way, great site and I look forward to seeing it grow
over time.
Wonderful post however I was wondering if you
could write a litte more on this topic? I’d be very grateful if you could
elaborate a little bit further. Many thanks!
Does your site have a contact page? I’m having a tough time locating it
but, I’d like to send you an e-mail. I’ve
got some recommendations for your blog you might
be interested in hearing. Either way, great site and I look forward
to seeing it grow over time.
Nice post. I learn something totally new and challenging on sites I stumbleupon everyday.
It’s always helpful to read through articles from
other writers and practice a little something from other sites.
Great information. Lucky me I came across your website by accident
(stumbleupon). I’ve book-marked it for later!
My programmer is trying to persuade me to move to .net
from PHP. I have always disliked the idea because
of the expenses. But he’s tryiong none the less. I’ve been using Movable-type
on numerous websites for about a year and am nervous about switching to another
platform. I have heard very good things about
blogengine.net. Is there a way I can transfer all my wordpress
posts into it? Any help would be greatly appreciated!
This is a topic which is close to my heart…
Best wishes! Where are your contact details though?
Hmm it appears like your website ate my first comment (it was extremely long) so I guess I’ll just sum it
up what I wrote and say, I’m thoroughly enjoying your blog.
I as well am an aspiring blog blogger but I’m still new to everything.
Do you have any suggestions for beginner blog writers?
I’d certainly appreciate it.
I have been exploring for a little bit for any high-quality articles or
blog posts on this kind of area . Exploring in Yahoo
I finally stumbled upon this website. Studying this information So
i’m glad to convey that I have an incredibly good uncanny feeling I came upon just what I needed.
I such a lot unquestionably will make certain to don?t fail to remember this site and provides it a glance regularly.
Hello there! This is my first visit to your blog!
We are a team of volunteers and starting a new project
in a community in the same niche. Your blog provided us
beneficial information to work on. You have done a extraordinary job!
Thank you, I’ve just been looking for info approximately this
topic for ages and yours is the best I have came
upon till now. But, what in regards to the bottom line?
Are you certain in regards to the supply?
It’s very easy to find out any matter on web as compared to textbooks, as I found this
paragraph at this site.
hey there and thank you for your information – I’ve definitely
picked up something new from right here. I did however expertise
a few technical issues using this site, as I experienced to reload the website a lot of times previous to I could get it
to load properly. I had been wondering if your web host is OK?
Not that I am complaining, but sluggish loading instances times will sometimes affect your placement in google and could damage
your high quality score if ads and marketing with Adwords.
Well I’m adding this RSS to my e-mail and could look out for
a lot more of your respective interesting content.
Ensure that you update this again very soon.
Just want to say your article is as amazing. The clearness in your post is
just great and i can assume you’re an expert on this subject.
Well with your permission allow me to grab your feed
to keep up to date with forthcoming post. Thanks a million and please keep up the rewarding work.
Incredible! This blog looks exactly like my old one!
It’s on a totally different subject but it has pretty much the
same page layout and design. Superb choice of colors!
Good post! We are linking to this particularly
great content on our website. Keep up the good writing.
I am sure this paragraph has touched all the internet visitors, its
really really nice paragraph on building up new website.
Wow, that’s what I was searching for, what a data!
present here at this webpage, thanks admin of this web site.
There is certainly a great deal to learn about this issue.
I really like all the points you made.
Quality articles or reviews is the secret to be a focus for the
viewers to go to see the web site, that’s what this site is providing.
Hola! I’ve been following your site for a long time now and finally got the courage to go ahead
and give you a shout out from Humble Texas! Just wanted to
say keep up the good work!
Greetings from Carolina! I’m bored to death at work so I decided to browse your blog on my iphone during lunch break.
I love the info you provide here and can’t wait to take a look when I get home.
I’m amazed at how quick your blog loaded on my cell phone
.. I’m not even using WIFI, just 3G .. Anyhow, fantastic site!
Thank you for the good writeup. It in reality
was once a leisure account it. Look complex to far introduced agreeable
from you! However, how can we keep up a correspondence?
Hurrah! At last I got a webpage from where I be able to in fact
get useful facts concerning my study and knowledge.
Hey! This is kind of off topic but I need some guidance from an established blog.
Is it difficult to set up your own blog? I’m
not very techincal but I can figure things out
pretty quick. I’m thinking about setting up my own but I’m not
sure where to begin. Do you have any ideas or suggestions?
With thanks
I have read several good stuff here. Certainly worth bookmarking
for revisiting. I wonder how so much attempt you place
to make this type of wonderful informative site.
What’s up i am kavin, its my first occasion to commenting anywhere,
when i read this post i thought i could also create comment due to this brilliant post.
Hi all, here every one is sharing these kinds of knowledge, thus it’s good to read
this webpage, and I used to pay a visit this weblog all
the time.
What’s up, just wanted to tell you, I enjoyed this article.
It was helpful. Keep on posting!
I know this website provides quality based content and additional information, is there any
other website which gives these data in quality?
Hello Dear, are you actually visiting this website regularly, if so afterward you will without
doubt get nice knowledge.
Wonderful website. A lot of useful info here.
I’m sending it to several friends ans additionally sharing in delicious.
And of course, thank you on your sweat!
Wow, awesome blog layout! How long have you been blogging for?
you make blogging look easy. The overall look of
your site is great, let alone the content!
Hello would you mind sharing which blog platform you’re using?
I’m looking to start my own blog soon but I’m having a difficult
time deciding between BlogEngine/Wordpress/B2evolution and Drupal.
The reason I ask is because your design seems different
then most blogs and I’m looking for something unique.
P.S Apologies for getting off-topic but I had to ask!
Useful information. Fortunate me I found your website by accident,
and I’m stunned why this accident did not came about in advance!
I bookmarked it.
Hmm it looks like your site ate my first comment (it was super long) so
I guess I’ll just sum it up what I wrote and say, I’m thoroughly enjoying your
blog. I too am an aspiring blog blogger but I’m still
new to everything. Do you have any tips and hints for rookie blog
writers? I’d really appreciate it.
Remarkable issues here. I am very satisfied to look your post.
Thanks a lot and I am looking ahead to touch you. Will you please drop me a mail?
When some one searches for his vital thing, so he/she wants to be available that in detail,
therefore that thing is maintained over here.
I pay a visit daily a few sites and blogs to read articles, except this web
site presents quality based posts.
Because the admin of this web page is working, no hesitation very rapidly it will be famous, due to its feature contents.
When someone writes an post he/she maintains the plan of a
user in his/her mind that how a user can understand it.
Thus that’s why this piece of writing is amazing.
Thanks!
Hi friends, how is everything, and what you desire to say about this piece
of writing, in my view its really awesome designed for me.
Nice blog here! Also your website loads up very fast! What web host are you using?
Can I get your affiliate link to your host?
I wish my website loaded up as fast as yours lol
A person necessarily lend a hand to make severely posts I’d state.
That is the very first time I frequented your web page and to
this point? I amazed with the research you made to create this
particular publish incredible. Great job!
Aw, this was an extremely good post. Spending some time and actual effort to produce a top notch article… but what can I say…
I put things off a lot and don’t seem to get nearly anything done.
Wonderful website. A lot of useful information here.
I am sending it to several pals ans also sharing in delicious.
And certainly, thanks for your effort!
Great post. I was checking continuously this
blog and I am impressed! Very helpful information specifically the last part 🙂 I care for such information much.
I was seeking this particular info for a very long time.
Thank you and good luck.
Hi, I do think your blog could be having internet browser compatibility issues.
When I take a look at your blog in Safari, it looks fine however,
when opening in Internet Explorer, it’s got some overlapping issues.
I just wanted to give you a quick heads up!
Aside from that, great website!
I will immediately clutch your rss feed as I can not to find your e-mail subscription hyperlink or newsletter service.
Do you have any? Please let me recognise in order
that I could subscribe. Thanks.
For the reason that the admin of this site is working,
no uncertainty very soon it will be well-known,
due to its quality contents.
Good article! We are linking to this great content on our site.
Keep up the great writing.
wonderful points altogether, you simply received a new
reader. What might you suggest in regards to your post that you made a few
days in the past? Any sure?
Thank you for the good writeup. It in fact was a amusement account it.
Look complex to more delivered agreeable from you!
However, how could we communicate?
Hey fantastic blog! Does running a blog similar to
this take a massive amount work? I have virtually no expertise in coding however
I had been hoping to start my own blog in the near future.
Anyways, if you have any recommendations or tips for new
blog owners please share. I know this is off topic however I just had to ask.
Thanks!
Good day! I simply wish to offer you a huge thumbs up for the great information you have here on this post.
I will be returning to your site for more soon.
Keep on working, great job!
Hey! I just wanted to ask if you ever have any trouble with hackers?
My last blog (wordpress) was hacked and I ended up losing months of hard work due to no backup.
Do you have any methods to stop hackers?
Excellent, what a website it is! This webpage gives valuable
facts to us, keep it up.
Good replies in return of this difficulty with genuine arguments and describing the whole thing concerning that.
Unquestionably consider that which you stated.
Your favourite justification seemed to be on the internet the simplest
factor to keep in mind of. I say to you, I certainly get irked at
the same time as folks consider worries that they just don’t know about.
You managed to hit the nail upon the top and also outlined out the whole thing
without having side-effects , other people can take a signal.
Will likely be back to get more. Thank you