Announced in the open Court on this 22nd day of October, 2020
This judgment consists of 5 signed pages.
CS No.3295/18ICICI Bank Ltd. Vs. Aarti Sharma & Anr.
10. In the present matter, the loan document i.e., Credit Facility
Application form(Ex.PW1/2) is filed in original and the same bears the
signatures of the defendant. The factum of release of the loan amount is
clearly established by the plaintiff. Furthermore, plaintiff has filed on
record a certificate u/S 2A of Bankers Book of Evidence Act,
1891(Ex.PW1/7) in support of certified copy of Statement of
Account(Ex.PW1/6). Furthermore, no challenge to the statement of
account (Ex.PW1/6) on account of tempering, forgery, hacking, change
of contents etc., has been made and hence, there is no impediment in
reading the same into evidence in support of plaintiff's case. Reliance in
this regard is placed on the judgment in ICICI Bank Ltd vs Kamini
Sharma(supra).
21. PW- 1 has tendered his oral evidence which is contained
in his affidavit Ex. PW1/A. A question may arise here that
PW1 is not privy to the execution of various documents on
which the cause of action has been founded upon by the
defendant. On this aspect the Ld. Counsel for the plaintiff
has placed strong reliance on judgment passed on
31.01.2018 by our own High Court in RFA No. 297/2015
titled 'M/S ICICI Bank Limited versus Kamini Sharma &
Another'. The sum and substance of the facts of the said
case are similarly placed as the facts in the case under
consideration.
20. PW- 1 has tendered his oral evidence which is contained
in his affidavit Ex. PW1/A. A question may arise here that
PW1 is not privy to the execution of various documents by
the defendants on which the cause of action has been
founded. On this aspect Ld. Counsel for plaintiff has
placed strong reliance on a judgment passed on 31.01.2018
by our own Hon'ble High Court in RFA No. 297/2015
titled 'M/S ICICI Bank Limited versus Kamini Sharma &
Another'. The sum and substance of the facts of the said
case are similarly placed as the facts in the case under
consideration.
19. PW- 1 has tendered his oral evidence which is contained in his
affidavit Ex. PW1/A. A question may arise here that PW1 is not
privy to the execution of various documents on which the cause of
action has been founded upon by the defendant. On this aspect the
Ld. Counsel for the plaintiff has placed strong reliance on a
judgment passed on 31.01.2018 by our own Hon'ble High Court in
RFA No. 297/2015 titled 'M/S ICICI Bank Limited versus Kamini
Sharma & Another'. The sum and substance of the facts of the said
case are similar to the facts of the present case.
28. The evidence in this case is primarily documentary. At the
cost of repetition, the documents tendered in evidence by
the plaintiff are the documents maintained by a bank in the
ordinary course of its business. Though the exceptions
cannot be ruled out, but generally taking a due notice of
the banking business, these documents can be considered
to be duly executed in due course of the business and
capable of binding the parties into a contractual
relationship. I am also supported by the judgments of our
own High Court in the case of Kamini Sharma (supra) and
Sunil Sharma (supra) on this aspect.
19. Even though defendant has been proceeded ex-parte, the plaintiff is
still liable to prove its case on pre-ponderance of probabilities. PW-
1 has tendered his oral evidence which is contained in his affidavit
Ex. PW1/A. A question may arise here that PW1 is not privy to the
execution of various documents on which the cause of action has
been founded upon by the defendant. On this aspect the Ld. Counsel
for plaintiff has placed strong reliance on a judgment passed on
31.01.2018 by our own Hon'ble High Court in RFA No. 297/2015
titled 'M/S ICICI Bank Limited versus Kamini Sharma & Another'.
The sum and substance of the facts of the said case are similar to the
facts of the present case.
18. PW- 1 has tendered his oral evidence which is contained
in his affidavit Ex. PW1/A. A question may arise here that
PW1 is not privy to the execution of various documents on
which the cause of action has been founded upon by the
defendant. On this aspect the Ld. Counsel for the plaintiff
has placed strong reliance on a judgment passed on
31.01.2018 by our own Hon'ble High Court in RFA No.
297/2015 titled 'M/S ICICI Bank Limited versus Kamini
Sharma & Another'. The sum and substance of the facts of
CS (Comm.) No. 825/2021 Page 6 of 11
the said case are similar to the facts of the present case.
21. PW- 1 has tendered his oral evidence which is contained
CS (Comm.) No. 1098/2019 Page 5 of 10
in his affidavit Ex. PW1/A. A question may arise here that
PW1 is not privy to the execution of various documents on
which the cause of action has been founded upon by the
defendant. On this aspect the Ld. Counsel for the plaintiff
has placed strong reliance on judgment passed on
31.01.2018 by our own High Court in RFA No. 297/2015
titled 'M/S ICICI Bank Limited versus Kamini Sharma &
Another'. The sum and substance of the facts of the said
case are similarly placed as the facts in the case under
consideration.
62. This court observes that a certificate not accompanying the
email is a mere irregularity and the same is curable, as held by
Hon'ble High Court of Delhi in ICICI Bank Vs Kamini Sharma -
RFA 297 of 2015 decided on 31.01.2018. It is further observed on
careful examination and scrutiny of the judicial file that a certificate
under Section 65B of the Indian Evidence Act, 1872 of Ms. Roohi
Thakur, Proprietor of Maple Consultant is on record and bears the
court endorsement of being filed on 20.08.2014. It is further observed
that the said certificate under Section 65B of the Indian Evidence Act,
1872, was filed prior to the recording the examination-in-chief of
PW1 on 04.06.2015. It is held that the objection of the defendant to
the emails being inadmissible in evidence for want of certificate are
untenable.