Allahabad High Court
Hareram Singh vs Shailendra Vikram Singh And 24 Others on 29 April, 2024
Author: Ajit Kumar
Bench: Ajit Kumar
HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT ALLAHABAD ?A.F.R. Neutral Citation No. - 2024:AHC:75588 Court No. - 4 Case :- CIVIL REVISION DEFECTIVE No. - 29 of 2024 Revisionist :- Hareram Singh Opposite Party :- Shailendra Vikram Singh And 24 Others Counsel for Revisionist :- Harshit Gupta,Ramanand Gupta Hon'ble Ajit Kumar,J.
1. Heard learned counsel for the petitioner.
2. Petitioner before this Court is plaintiff in the suit being O.S. No.278 of 2014 instituted for permanent prohibitory injunction in respect of the suit property. He is aggrieved by an order passed by the trial court on 03.04.2024 whereby the opportunity of plaintiff to lead evidence has been finally closed and file has been made to progress for defendants' evidence.
3. Submission advanced by learned counsel for the petitioner is that since the plaintiff is in jail, he could not be produced whereas Court could have ordered for his production under Order 16A Rule 2 of the Civil Procedure Code, 1908. He has also argued that in view of Rules for Video Conferencing For Courts In The State Of Uttar Pradesh, 2020, the trial court could have ordered for recording evidence of the plaintiff through video conferencing. He submits that in above regard even the High Court has issued necessary circulars on 05.03.2024.
4. Having heard learned counsel for the petitioner and having perused the record, I find that plaintiff being the crucial evidence in his own suit, is definitely entitled to lead evidence and hence should be permitted to lead his oral evidence and in the event Court finds it difficult to get recorded oral testimony of the plaintiff namely petitioner No.1 exercising power under Order 16A Rule 2 of the Code of Civil Procedure by securing attendance of the plaintiff from jail on a particular date, the Court can get the testimony recorded under the Video Conferencing Rules, 2020.
5. Rules 3, 6 & 8 of the Video Conferencing Rules, 2020 are crucial for this purpose are reproduced hereinunder:
"3. General Principles Governing Video Conferencing
(i) Video conferencing facilities may be used at all stages of judicial proceedings and proceedings conducted by the Court.
(ii) All proceedings conducted by a Court by way of video conferencing shall be judicial proceedings and all the courtesies and protocols applicable to a physical Court shall apply to these virtual proceedings. The protocol provided in Schedule I shall be adhered to for proceedings conducted by way of video conferencing.
(iii) All relevant statutory provisions applicable to judicial proceedings including provisions of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908, Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973, Contempt of Courts Act, 1971, Indian Evidence Act, 1872 (abbreviated hereafter as the Evidence Act), and Information Technology Act, 2000 (abbreviated hereafter as the IT Act), shall apply to proceedings conducted through video conferencing.
(iv) Subject to maintaining independence, impartiality and credibility of judicial proceedings, and subject to such directions as the High Court may issue, Courts may adopt such technological advances as may become available from time to time.
(v) The Rules as applicable to a Court shall mutatis mutandis apply to a Commissioner appointed by the Court to record evidence and to an inquiry officer conducting an inquiry.
(vi) There shall be no unauthorised recording of the proceedings by any person or entity.
(vii) The person defined in Rule 2(xii) shall provide identity proof as recognised by the Government of India/State Government/Union Territory to the Court point coordinator via personal e-mail. In case identity proof is not readily available the person concerned shall furnish the following personal details: name, parentage and permanent address, as also, temporary address if any.
6. Application for Appearance, Evidence and Submissions through Video Conferencing:
6.1 Any party to the proceeding or witness, save and except where proceedings are initiated at the instance of the Court, may move a request for video conferencing. A party or witness seeking a video conferencing proceeding shall do so by making a request in the form prescribed in Schedule II.
6.2 Any proposal to move a request for video conferencing should first be discussed with the other party or parties to the proceeding, except where it is not possible or inappropriate to do so, for example, extremely urgent cases/applications.
6.3 On receipt of such a request and upon hearing all concerned persons, the Court will pass an appropriate order after ascertaining that the application is not filed with an intention to impede a fair trial or to delay the proceedings.
6.4 While allowing a request for video conferencing, the Court may also fix the schedule for convening the video conferencing.
6.5 In case the video conferencing event is convened for making oral submissions, the order may require the Advocate or party in person to submit written arguments and precedents, if any, in advance on the official email ID of the concerned Court.
6.6 Costs, if directed to be paid, by the order convening proceeding through video conferencing shall be deposited within the time specified in the said order.
8. Examination of persons 8.1 Any person being examined, including a witness shall, before being examined through video conferencing, produce and file proof of identity by submitting an identity document issued or duly recognized by the Government of India, State Government, Union Territory, or in the absence of such a document, an affidavit attested by any of the authorities referred to in Section 139 of the CPC or Section 297 of the CrPC, as the case may be. The affidavit will inter alia state that the person, who is shown to be the party to the proceedings or as a witness, is the same person, who is to depose at the virtual hearing. A copy of the proof of identity or affidavit, as the case may be, will be made available to the opposite party.
8.2 The person being examined will ordinarily be examined during the working hours of the concerned Court or at such time as the Court may deem fit. The oath will be administered to the person being examined by the Coordinator at the Court Point.
8.3 Where the person being examined, or the accused to be tried, is in custody, the statement or, as the case may be, the testimony, may be recorded through video conferencing. The Court shall provide adequate opportunity to the under-trial prisoner to consult in privacy with their counsel before, during and after the video conferencing.
8.4 Subject to the provisions for examination of witnesses contained in the Evidence Act, before the examination of the witness, the documents, if any, sought to be relied upon shall be transmitted by the applicant to the witness, so that the witness acquires familiarity with the said documents. The applicant will file an acknowledgment with the Court in this behalf."
(emphasis added)
6. I also find that in above regard, the Registrar General of the High Court has issued circular letter to the District Judges on 05.03.2024. The part of the relevant order is reproduced hereinunder:
"It is to inform that the matter relating to audio-video storage of recorded evidence through video-conferencing is under consideration of Hon'ble Court as the relevant Rule pertaining to Video Conferencing for Courts in the State of Uttar Pradesh, 2020' states that "An audio-visual recording of the examination of person examined shall be preserved. An encrypted master copy with hash value shall be retained as a part of the record."
In this regard, it has been observed by the Hon'ble Court that the implementation of the aforementioned rule regarding evidence recorded through video conferencing in the District Courts would be hindered by practical limitations such as inadequate storage capacity, preservation challenges, ambiguity regarding duration, undefined methods of data storage, and concerns regarding safety and security.
In view of above, I have been directed to request your goodselves that until the existing rules of Video Conferencing are amended, the recorded evidences (through Video Conferencing mode) be transcribed into text document which is further required to be verified (signing on the text document) by the witness as well as by the competent authority(ies). The verified text document will be preserved on record.
It is, therefore, requested to your goodselves to kindly ensure the compliance accordingly."
7. In view of the above, the order dated 03.04.2024 passed by the Civil Judge (S.D.), Ballia in O.S. No.147 of 2018 (Hareram Singh v. Shilendra Vikram Singh & ors) is hereby set aside. Petitioner is directed to move an appropriate application under Section 6 of the Video Conferencing Rules, 2020 within a period of two weeks from today, upon which the trial court shall pass appropriate order in light of observations made hereinabove.
8. With the aforesaid observations and directions, this petition stands disposed of.
9. Registrar General shall circulate this judgment to all the District Judgeships in the State to be placed before all judicial officers.
Order Date :- 29.4.2024 P Kesari