10. A party to the suit is one on whose behalf or against whom
a proceeding in a court has been filed. A witness is a person, either
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on behalf of the Plaintiff or the defendant, who appears before a
Court to substantiate a statement or claim made by either side.
Neither the phrase ‘party to the suit’ nor ‘witness’ is defined under
the CPC or any other statute on the books. However on this issue,
a Constitution Bench of this Court in State of Bombay v. Kathi
Kalu Oghad7 held as under-
18. While considering the legislative intent of Order VII Rule
14(4), Order VIII Rule 1-A(4)(a) and Order XIII Rule 1(3), the High
Court observed that the production of documents relied on and/or
"in the possession and power of the parties" as being obligatory
and noted that a failure to do so, may in some cases be
tantamount to fraud. Reference was made to S.P. Chengivaraya
Naidu v. Jagannath9 to substantiate the same. It was observed
that permitting a party to hold a document intentionally, for any
purpose whatsoever would nullify the requirement of a level
playing field in the litigation, but also undercut the said provisions
because the language is clear- mandating for the parties to
9 (1994) 1 SCC 1 (2-Judge Bench)
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produce documents, and whereas, the exception- i.e., Order VIII
Rule 1-A (4) and Order XIII Rule 1(3) applies only to witnesses
and not to parties. Thus concluding that the legislative intent is
clear and unambiguous, as evidenced by the same difference
being present three times.
This fact acquires significance as the Division Bench
in the Impugned Judgment differentiates the judgment in T.M
Mohana (supra) with the present-day Code as the provision it
speaks of is not to be found in the Code.
In Purushottam (supra) the Learned Single Judge had
observed that it was not open for the trial court to allow the
12 See Sadayappan v. State, (2019) 9 SCC 257 (2-Judge Bench)
13 Para 23 of the Impugned Judgment
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production of documents to confront the party to the suit and it
would be a different course if the person being confronted was
only a witness to the suit.
28. It is settled law that what is not pleaded cannot be argued,
as for the purposes of adjudication, it is necessary for the other
party to know the contours of the case it is required to meet. It is
equally well settled that the requirement of having to plead a
particular argument does not include exhaustively doing so. We
may refer to Ram Sarup Gupta v. Bishun Narain Inter College 14,
wherein it was observed as follows:
In Purushottam (supra) the Learned Single Judge had
observed that it was not open for the trial court to allow the
12 See Sadayappan v. State, (2019) 9 SCC 257 (2-Judge Bench)
13 Para 23 of the Impugned Judgment
28-SLP (C) No.14445 of 2021
production of documents to confront the party to the suit and it
would be a different course if the person being confronted was
only a witness to the suit.