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23. Administering of Interrogatories is to be encouraged as it is a means of obtaining admissions of parties and tends to shorten litigation. As a general rule the Interrogatory should be allowed, whether the answer to them would either strengthen the case of the party administering them or to destroy the case of the adversary. The court should not be hyper-technical at the stage of the service of the Interrogatories. This rule is to be used liberally whenever it could shorten the litigation and serve the interest of justice.
24. When the interrogatories proposed to be administered are examined in the light of the above referred legal propositions, it is clear that answer to the interrogatories may have the effect of shortening the litigation."

21. When examined in the light of parameters laid down in the aforesaid judgments, clearly, the Trial Court has misdirected itself in rejecting the application filed by the petitioner under Order XI Rule 1 of the CPC. While deciding the said application under Order XI Rule 1 of the CPC, the Trial Court had to only consider whether answer to the said interrogatories would have some bearing on the issues involved in the case and whether the same could be necessary for fair adjudication of the dispute. The very object of the interrogatories is to know the case of the opposite party and to, therefore, shorten the trial and limit the scope of the cross-examination. The Courts should be liberal and should not be hyper-technical in allowing the use of interrogatories in a suit. Interrogatories also enable a party to obtain an admission from the opponent, which reduces the scope of trial and the cost of litigation for the parties. Once the Court comes to the conclusion that the interrogatories are relevant for proper adjudication of the case, the interrogatories are served upon the other party and the said other party has to answer the interrogatories on affidavit or objections can be raised on the ground that the said interrogatories are scandalous in nature or are not relevant or not bona fide for the purposes of the suit or on the ground of privilege. The objections on the grounds above have to be taken on affidavit. It is at that stage that the Court has to consider which of the questions in the interrogatories the party should be compelled to answer.

23. The only basis provided by the Trial Court for not allowing the application of the petitioner was that the interrogatories could be put in cross-examination. The learned Trial Court failed to appreciate that the cross-examination may not be necessary in light of the answers given to the interrogatories. It is not the case of the respondents that any of the interrogatories are scandalous in nature or are irrelevant. When the aforesaid tests of 'relevancy' and 'expediency' are applied to the facts of the case, there is no doubt in the mind of the Court that interrogatories as sought to be raised in the present case should have been allowed and would have helped in reducing the time taken in trial.

7. The Court can allow service of interrogatories, at any stage of the suit, for which it has been conferred wider discretion, but at the same time, the discretion must be exercised in a judicious way. The information sought to be furnished must have some nexus or relevancy with the dispute in question.
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