Delhi District Court
Vide The Instant Order vs Shri Ashok Kulshresth And Record ... on 26 April, 2016
Dr. Adityanjee & Ors v. Dr. Shambhuji & Ors.
IN THE COURT OF MS DEEPALI SHARMA,
ADDL. DISTRICT JUDGE-14 (CENTRAL):
TIS HAZARI COURTS: DELHI
CS-213/16
Dr. Adityanjee & Ors ........... Plaitniff.
Versus
Dr. Shambhuji & Ors. .......... Defendants.
O R D E R:
1. Vide the instant order, I shall decide the application filed by the Defendants No.1, 3 & 4 under Order VII Rule 14(3) Code of Civil Procedure 1908 for rejecting the belated additional list of documents filed by Plaintiff No.2 on 24.07.2013.
2. It is stated by the Ld. Counsel for Defendants No.1, 3 & 4 that the Plaintiff No.2 has filed a long list of reliance on 24.07.2013 as an after thought and by way of the said list of reliance, the Plaintiff No.2 is circumventing the law as laid down in Order VII Rule 14 CPC. It is averred by the Ld. Counsel for Defendants that the belated filing of the list has been done with malafide intent to prolong the trial and for making fishing and roving inquiries to fill the lacuna in the evidence of the Plaintiffs. It has further been urged that no application to seek leave of the court has been filed and the said documents ought to have been filed alongwith the plaint. It is further argued that it is not the case of the Plaintiff that such long list of reliance and the documents to which it pertained, were not within their knowledge or power and possession of the Plaintiff at the time of filing the Plaint. Owing to the fact that the Plaintiff has not filed any application seeking (CS-213/2016) (Page 1 of 5) Dr. Adityanjee & Ors v. Dr. Shambhuji & Ors.
leave of the court to place the said documents on record, such list of reliance cannot be permitted to be taken on record and there is no vested right to file the documents at the belated stage after nine years of filing of the plaint.
3. In support of its contention, the Defendant has relied upon the following judgments:
i) Asia Pacific Breweries v. Superior Industries, IA No. 5990/2007 in CS (OS) No. 946/2002, decided by Hon'ble Delhi High Court, decided on 06.03.2009.
ii) Haldiram (India) Pvt. Ltd. & Ors. v. M/s. Haldiram Bhujiawala & Anr., CM (M) No. 231/2009 & CM No.3959/09, decided by Hon'ble Delhi High Court on 08.04.2009
iii) J.K. Kashyap v. Rajiv Gupta & Ors. IA Nos. 4595/12 & 2742/12 in CS(OS) 2156/07, decided by Hon'ble Delhi High Court on 20.07.2012.
The aforesaid judgements deal with filing of documents by the parties at a belated stage wherein it has been held that where the Plaintiff has not filed a List of Documents relied on and the documents are such as are within the knowledge and power and possession of the Plaintiff, the Court cannot allow those documents to be filed at a belated stage.
4. The Plaintiff on the other hand have submitted that on 11.07.2013, issues were framed in the instant matter. On that date, the Ld. Predecessor of this Court had directed the parties to file their list of witnesses and reliance within 15 days from that day. Thereafter on 24.07.2013, the Plaintiff filed its list of reliance and list of witnesses in pursuance to the order dated 11.07.2013. It is further averred that since the Court had already directed the parties to file the list reliance and witnesses, therefore, no leave of the Court was (CS-213/2016) (Page 2 of 5) Dr. Adityanjee & Ors v. Dr. Shambhuji & Ors.
taken prior to filing the said list of reliance.
5. It has also been argued by the Ld. Counsel for the Plaintiff that the Order dated 11.07.2013 was passed in the presence of Defendant No.1 and Defendant No. 1 never objected to the order of the Court directing the parties to file the list of witnesses and reliance. The said order was not challenged by the Defendants by way of a review or an appeal. The Defendants are, therefore, estopped and precluded from raising any objection with respect to the order dated 11.07.2013, the said order having attained finality. The order dated 11.07.2013 is deemed to have granted leave for the purposes of Order VII Rule 14 CPC and accordingly, the filing of the list of reliance in compliance and in pursuance of the said order cannot be faulted. It has also been averred that the documents as mentioned in the list of reliance are necessary for proper adjudication of the matter.
6. I have heard the learned Counsels for the parties and perused the records.
7. A perusal of the record reveals that the list of reliance filed by the plaintiff on 24.07.2013 includes the documents available with the Delhi Development Authority, Land & Building Department of the Delhi Administration, Municipal Corporation of Delhi and other records available with various Government Authorities and record pertaining to the Civil Suit No. 5/99, titled as Dr. Shambhuji vs. Shri Ashok Kulshresth and record pertaining to other judicial proceedings. Correspondingly, a list of witness was also filed by the Plaintiffs, summoning the record as mentioned in its list of reliance from the various Government Officials. It is, therefore, apparent that the documents as mentioned in the list of reliance, (CS-213/2016) (Page 3 of 5) Dr. Adityanjee & Ors v. Dr. Shambhuji & Ors.
filed by the plaintiffs, conform to the list of witnesses filed by it. The said documents, being government/ public/ court record, witnesses can be summoned to produce the said documents. The officials record can be received in evidence by calling the witnesses from the concerned Department.
8. Ld. Counsel for the Plaintiff has relied upon the judgment of Joginder Singh v. Amar Nath Gupta, in CM(M) 1449/2011 passed by the Hon'ble Delhi High Court on 01.10.2012, wherein the Hon'ble Delhi High Court has held that Order VII Rule 14 CPC, would apply where the suit is filed upon a document or the document relied upon, is in the power and possession of the Plaintiff. It was held that neither the Inspection Report of the DVB of the inspection conducted by it of the premises, nor the notice dated 17.11.1993 of DVA were in possession and power of the Respondent/ Plaintiff. The Court further observed that there is no bar to file the documents alongwith affidavit of evidence. However, the admissibility thereof is to be decided by the Court as per provisions contained in Order 13 Rule 4 CPC. It cannot be said that the documents which are not produced alongwith the plaint, cannot be allowed to be produced alongwith the affidavit of the evidence. On the contrary, Order 18 Rule 4 CPC provides for submission of documents, if any relied upon, alongwith the affidavit. In the instant case, list of reliance filed by the Plaintiff pertains to records available with Delhi Developement Authority, Land & Building Department of Delhi Administration, Municipal Corporation of Delhi and other records. Hence, it cannot be stated that the said records were in power and possession of the Plaintiff.
9. Moreover, the list of reliance was filed by the Plaintiffs in pursuance of the order dated 11.07.2013 of the Ld. Predecessor (CS-213/2016) (Page 4 of 5) Dr. Adityanjee & Ors v. Dr. Shambhuji & Ors.
Court. Since the list of reliance was filed within 15 days of the order i.e. on 24.07.2013. No review or revision was filed challenging the order dated 11.07.20113, the said order attained finality. In such circumstances, no further leave was required to be taken by the Plaintiffs to place the said list of reliance on record.
10. The judgments relied upon by the Defendants deal with the situation where no leave of the Court has been obtained and there are no orders of the Court permitting the Plaintiff to place additional documents on record. In the instant case, however, there was a specific order of the Court dated 11.07.2013 whereby the Ld. Predecessor of this Court directed the parties to file their list of witnesses and reliance within 15 days from that date. The list of reliance was filed by the Plaintiff pursuant to the order dated 11.07.2013 and hence no specific leave of the Court was required to be taken prior to the filing of the said list of reliance.
11. Hence in view of the above the instant application filed by the Defendants No. 1, 3 & 4 is dismissed. It is ordered accordingly.
ANNOUNCED IN OPEN COURT TODAY 26.04.2016.
(DEEPALI SHARMA) Addl.District Judge-14 (Central):
Tis Hazari Courts, Delhi.
(CS-213/2016) (Page 5 of 5)