Skip to main content

On service of summons and burden of proof

In Sweety Gupta Vs. Neety Gupta, the Hon'ble Delhi High Court while elaborating on the various procedures arising from non-delivery of summons and the resultant ex-parte order  held that -

Civil Procedure Code, 1908 – Order 5 Rule 17 & 18 – Endorsement of the process server / postman – If no evidence is given with regard to service of summons, the fact that the postman or the process server reported refusal/non acceptance of the service would have to be accepted as correct.

Civil Procedure Code, 1908 –Order 9 Rule 6 – Procedure when only plaintiff appears – When summons are duly served but the defendant chooses not to appear, the Court may make an order that the suit be heard ex parte. In case it is not proved that the summons are duly served, the Court is under an obligation to direct a second summons to be issued and served on the defendant. In the event of the defendant not having sufficient time to appear, the Court can postpone the hearing of the suit to a future date whereafter fresh notice of such date is required to be given to the defendant.

Civil Procedure Code, 1908 – Order 9 Rule 13 – Setting aside decree ex parte against defendant – An ex parte decree cannot be set aside if the Court is convinced that defendant had the knowledge of the proceedings and he could have appeared and answered to the plaintiffs claim.

Civil Procedure Code, 1908 – Order 9 Rule 13 – Setting aside decree ex parte against defendant – An ex-parte decree shall not be set aside merely on the ground of irregularity in the service of summons if the Court was satisfied that the defendant was aware of the date of hearing and had sufficient time to appear and answer the plaintiff’s claim.

Article referred: http://www.lawkam.org/caselaw/summons-sweety-gupta-neety-delhi/10959/

Comments

Post a Comment

Most viewed this month

The recovery of vehicles by the financier not an offence - SC

Special Leave Petition (Crl.) No. 8907  of 2009 Anup Sarmah (Petitioner) Vs Bhola Nath Sharma & Ors.(Respondents) The petitioner submitted that  respondents-financer had forcibly taken away the vehicle financed by them and  illegally deprived the petitioner from its lawful possession  and  thus,  committed  a crime. The complaint filed by the petitioner had been  entertained  by  the Judicial Magistrate (Ist Class), Gauhati (Assam) in Complaint Case  No.  608 of 2009, even directing the interim custody of the vehicle (Maruti  Zen)  be given to the petitioner vide order dated  17.3.2009.  The respondent on approaching the Guwahati High  Court against this order, the hon'ble court squashed the criminal  proceedings  pending   before  the  learned Magistrate. After hearing both sides, the Hon'ble Supreme Court decided on 30th...
7 comments
Read more

Vanishing promoters and languishing shareholders

Over Rs 60,000 crore of shareholders’ wealth is stuck in 1,450 companies suspended by the stock exchanges. More importantly, near 100 per cent pledging of promoter holding appears to be common in many of these companies. This, almost rules out any chance of the companies bouncing back. The suspension is for non-compliance of the listing norms. Vanishing Companies - Definition As per the definition stipulated by SEBI, any listed company, which raised moneythrough initial public offer and, thereafter, stopped operations, did not file returnseither with the RoC or SEBI and did not exist on the registered premises wastermed as vanishing.There are provisions under Companies Act under which companies are termedvanishing companies on satisfying certain conditions. it is provided a companywould be deemed to be a vanishing company, if it satisfies all the conditions given below : a) Failed to file returns with Registrar of Companies (ROC) for a period of two years; b) Failed to fil...
3 comments
Read more

Property can be sold on power of attorney - Delhi High Court

As reported in the Hindusthan Times on 5th May:-  http://www.hindustantimes.com/India-news/NewDelhi/Property-can-be-sold-on-power-of-attorney/Article1-1054964.aspx In a judgment that will benefit lakhs of Delhi residents living in co-operative housing societies and DDA flats, the Delhi High Court has quashed a Delhi government circular banning property sale in the Capital through general power of attorney (GPA). The court found that the directions in the circular, issued by the revenue department on April 27 last year, were contrary to the Supreme Court judgment dated October 11, 2011. The HC order will increase the number of saleable properties in Delhi and could bring down the value of freehold properties. According to realty watchers, on an average, around 20% of properties are registered through GPA transfers — a common way of selling leasehold properties and those that don’t have a clear title. The judgment came on a petition filed by a company, Pace Developers and ...
5 comments
Read more