CPC 1908 civil suit stages in India

 

STAGES IN DETAIL:

1.  Plaint (Order 7) : The entire legal machinery under the Civil Law is set in motion by filing of plaint and hence plaint is the actual starting point of all pleadings in a case. 
2. Service of Summons : Summons is an instrument used by the court to commence a civil action or proceedings and is a means to acquire jurisdiction over party. It is a process directed to a proper officer requiring him to notify the person named, that an action has been commenced against him, in the court from where process is issued and that he is required to appear, on a day named and answer the claim in such action.
3. Appearance of parties : On the day fixed in the summons the defendant is required to appear and answer and the parties shall attend the court unless the hearing is adjourned to a future day fixed by the court, if the defendant is absent court may proceed exparte. 
4. Ex-parteDecree : A decree against the Defendant without hearing him or in his absence or in absence of his defense can be passed .If an exparte decree is passed and the defendant satisfies that he was prevented by sufficient cause then he has remedies.
5. Interlocutory Proceedings : The period involved between initiation and disposal of litigation is substantially long. The intervention of the court may sometimes be required to maintain the position as it prevailed on the date of litigation. In legal parlance it is known as "status quo”. It means preserving existing state of things on a given day. In that context interlocutory orders are provisional, interim, temporary as compare to final. It does not finally determine cause of action but only decides some intervening matter pertaining to the cause. 
6. Written Statement (Order 8) : The defendant is required to fiie written statement of his defense at or before the first hearing or such time as may be allowed If defendant disputes maintainability of the suit or takes the plea that the transaction is void it must be specifically stated. A general denial of grounds alleged in the plaint is not sufficient and denial has to be specific. 
7. Production of Documents: . On this stage both parties have to file documents in court which are in their possession or power. If parties relay on some documents which are not in their possession in that case they have to apply to court for issue of summons to authority or persons in whose possession these documents are. 
8. Examination of parties (Order 10) : Examination of parties is an important stage after appearance. At first hearing of the suit the court shall ascertain from each party or his pleader whether he admits or denies such allegations of fact as are made in the plaint or written statement. Such admissions and denials shall be recorded.
9. Discovery and Inspection (Order 11) : The purpose of discovery and inspection of document and facts is to enable the parties to ascertain the facts to be proved. With the leave of the court the plaintiff or defendant may deliver interrogatories in writing for examination of opposite parties which are required to be answered and which are related to the matter. 
10. Admission (Order 12) : Either party may call upon the other party to admit within seven days from the date of service of the notice, any document saving all just exception. 
11. Framing of Issue (Order 14):The job of framing issues is exclusively assigned to a judge. Issues are framed considering provisions of order 14 rule 1 of C.P.C.
12. Summoning And Attendance Of Witnesses (Order 16) : On the date appointed by the court and not later than 15 days after the date on which issues are settled parties shall present in court a list of witnesses whom they propose to call either to give evidence or to produce documents.
13. Hearing Of Suits And Examination Of Witnesses (Order 18) : The plaintiff is entitled to have first right to begin unless the defendant admits the facts alleged by the plaintiff and contends that either in point of law or on some additional facts alleged by the defendant the plaintiff is not entitled to any part of relief
14. Argument :As soon as evidence of both side is over then the suit is kept for argument. Once the evidence has been submitted and cross-examination is conducted by the plaintiff and defendant, both sides are allowed to present a summary of their case and evidence to the judge in the Final argument session.
15. Judgment (Order 20) : Judgment means the statement given by the judge on ground of which a decree is passed. The court after the case has been heard shall pronounce judgment in open court either within one month of completion of arguments or as soon thereafter as may be practicable, and when the judgment is to be pronounced judge shall fix a day in advance for that purpose.
16. Preparation of Decree (Order 20 rule 6, 6A) : Once the judgment is delivered by a judge a decree is to be prepared by concerned clerk. Including all the personal  details submitted, particulars of the claim, and shall specify clearly the relief granted or other determination of the suit.  
17. Appeal, Review, Revision : 

• Appeal :- An appeal may be an appeal from order or an appeal from decree. All orders are not appealable and complete discretion of the appealable order has been given in order 43 of the code of Civil Procedure Code. The appeal has to be preferred within prescribed limitation period before the appellate court. The limitation period for appeal to High Court is 90 days and appeal to District Court is 30 days. If the period of limitation is expired, then application for condonation of delay also is required to be moved. 
• Review :- The right of review is having very limited scope under the Civil Procedure Code A review application is maintainable only when the following conditions are satisfied, 1. If involves a decree or order from which no appeal is allowed or if allowed it is not preferred. 2. The appellant was aggrieved, on the ground, that because of the discovery of a new and important matter of evidence, which, after the exercise of due diligence, was not within his knowledge or could not be produced by him at the time of decree or on account of some mistake, apparently on the face of the record, or for any sufficient reason, desires to obtain a review of such decree.
• Revision :- The High Court in its revision jurisdiction can interfere in any case decided by subordinate court under certain circumstances. The High Court may call for the record of any case which has been decided by subordinate court and in which no appeal lies, if such subordinate court appears - 
• 1. To have exercised, a jurisdiction not vested in it by law, or 
• 2. To have failed to exercise a jurisdiction so vested, or
• 3. To have acted in exercise of its jurisdiction illegally; or 
• 4. with material irregularity.

18.Execution of Decree (Order 21) :Execution is the medium by which a decree- holder compels the judgment-debtor to carry out the mandate of the decree or order as the case may be. It enables the decree-holder to recover the fruits of the judgment. The execution is complete when the judgment-creditor or decree-holder gets money or other thing awarded to him by judgment, decree or order.

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WARRANT AND SUMMONS

Summons 

A written notification issued by a civil court requiring that one must appear before the court in prescribed manner.Summons case means a case relating to an offence, and not being a warrant case. 

In the Code of Criminal Procedure, section 61 to 69 deals with summons. Section 204  also deals with summon issuance by the magistrate after cognizance of the offence.

• It issued by a Court are in writing, in duplicate, signed by the presiding officer of Court or other officer as the High Court may direct, and shall bear the seal of the Court.
• Its legal document issued by a Court on a person involved in a legal proceeding. 
• It severed on a person against whom legal action taken or any witness of legal proceeding. 
• A summon served on defendant by plaintiff to ensure fair trial.
• If the summons not duly served then no action lies against the defendant. 

warrant-case

Warrant-case means a case relating to an offence punishable with death, imprisonment for life or imprisonment for a term exceeding two years.

Warrant in CrPC

sec 70 of CrPC -Form of warrant of arrest and duration

• Every warrant of arrest issued by a Court under this Code shall be in writing, signed by the presiding officer of such Court and shall bear the seal of the Court.
• Every such warrant shall remain in force until it is cancelled by the Court which issued it, or until it is executed.

Types of Warrants

There are three main types of criminal warrants

• Arrest Warrant
• Bench warrant
• Search warrant

Arrest Warrant: An arrest warrant is a warrant issued on behalf of the state by a magistrate or judge, authorizing the arrest and detention of an individual, or the search and seizure of an individual's property.
Arrest Warrant includes a bailable arrest warrant and a non- bailable arrest warrant.

• Bailable Arrest Warrant - Warrant to be executed by a policeman, but after the execution, the person arrested can be released by providing a bail which can be bond or cash as per the warrant.
• Non Bailable warrant - Warrant, where arresting or executing police officer, cannot do anything but remand the accused to police station and produce the accused before a magistrate who issued the warrant who will then either recall the warrant with fine or send the accused to judicial custody and order the accused to go to court and apply for regular bail.

Bench Warrant: The arrest warrant that is ordered by a judge against the defendant in a criminal case or any similar proceedings is known as a bench warrant.
A bench warrant is issued when one fails to appear before the court. The term "bench" is derived from the traditional meaning for the judge's seat.

Differences

Arrest Warrant: Generally, the police are supposed to obtain an arrest warrant, issued by a judge based on probable cause, before taking an individual into custody.

Bench Warrant: A judge issues a bench warrant when an individual fails to appear in court. It is not at the request of the police. It is based on the court's jurisdiction over individuals to require their appearance in court.

Search Warrant: It is an order issued by magistrate or judge to authorize law officers to search for a person, his vehicle or location, to get evidence for a crime and to seize any evidence if found.


Summons in Civil Cases
Order V of the Civil Procedure Code, 1908 deals with the procedure of service of summons on the defendants and respondents in a civil suit while Order XVI of the Code deals with the procedure of service of summons on the witnesses in the proceeding. There are 30 rules under Order V that give detail explanation of the procedure of issue and service of summons distinctly.

• Rule 1 states that when the plaintiff has filed the plaint and the plaint has been admitted by the court, the court should issue a summon calling the defendant to answer the claims of the plaintiff and file a written statement which is basically a reply to the plaint.
• Rules 11 to 15 explain service of summons when there are more than one defendants. According to these rules, summon should be served to each of the defendants individually and in person as far as practicable.
• Rule 13 and 14 provide that a summon can be served to the agent of the defendant or any representative in his place of work and that shall complete proper service of summons.

if summoned person does not appear:

If the summoned person appears on the date ushered, the case continues without adjournment and moreover, the court is empowered to pass an ex-parte decree, i.e. award in favour of the party who is present in the court if the other party does not appear even after receiving the summons.

service of summons:

There are many ways of service of summons under the CPC that have been recognized by the courts. These are:

• Service by hand
• Service by post
• Service by E-mail
• Service through WhatsApp

Service by E-mail:   The courts have been inclined to use electronic means to serve summons and notices to save time and money. 

• In the case of Central Electricity Regulatory Commission v. National Hydroelectric Power Corp. Ltd.

Service through WhatsApp: The application has threefold tests to check the status of a sent message. It provides ‘one tick’ for messages that are sent, ‘double tick’ for messages that are received and ‘a blue double tick’ for messages that have been either read or at least opened.

•  In Tata Sons v. John Doe, the Delhi High Court permitted the plaintiff to serve summons to the defendant via WhatsApp and e-mail.
•  The landmark case in this regard, however, is Ruma Pal v. Kumar. In this case, the defendant husband had fled to Australia to avoid any suit filed by his wife for domestic violence and it was very difficult to serve summons while he was in Australia.

Summons in Criminal Cases

Chapter 6 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 deals with issue and service ofsummons upon the accused person and the witnesses in a criminal case.

•  Sections 61 to 69 are the relevant provisions whereby Section 61 deals with ideals with issue of summons and remaining provisions deal with service of summons.
• Summons are also issued to witnesses in a criminal case whom the prosecution of the defence proposes to examine. These summons contain a brief explanation of the matter and their role in the case and their need to testify.

service of summons:

criminal case, the summon is not sent through court officers or the parties but police officers, there are not multiple ways of service of summons. Summons are served in person or through post only. However, the service of summons depends upon the accused and the recognized modes are:

• Service by hand
• Service to Corporate Bodies
• Service by hand

Service by hand : As already explained, the police officer carries the summon issued by the court and the same is delivered to the accused person at his residential address and a copy of the summon is received with acknowledgement from the accused of the receipt of the summons.

Service to Corporate Bodies : When the accused is a company or co-operative society or any other form of body corporates, the summon may be served through the post to the secretary of the organization or the Local Manager or any person in authority who is the principal officer of the organisation

Service to Missing persons: When the accused cannot be found or is missing, the summon can be served to any adult member of his family provided the family members are residing in the same dwelling house or the same city and the family is responsible to intimate the accused. If there are no family members or any next kin to whom the summon can be served, the police officer may annex a copy of the summon on the house of the accused or on the walls of the places near his house where they can be easily located and read by the accused.

Summary of summon and warrant in civil and criminal cases:

• A civil court can issue warrant for arrest against certain persons and in some special circumstances.
• Witnesses are generally the persons who can be arrested under CPC
• Normally, a warrant cannot be issued against the defendant
• A defendant may or may not appear in obedience to the summons issued in a civil suit but the court has no power generally to compel his appearance;
• It is for the defendant to protect his interest in a civil case. The court, if finds that a defendant has not put appearance despite service of summons or that he deliberately avoided the service, can proceed in the matter ex-parte;
• Warrant for arrest can be issued against a defendant if he has been called as a witness or to produce a document;
• In execution of decree, a warrant for arrest can be issued against a judgment debtor;
• A warrant for arrest can be issued even against a defendant in certain exceptional situation where there is probability of his abscondence with a view to frustrate the purpose of the suit;
• All the warrants for arrest issued under the CPC are to be addressed to bailiff of the court;
• A civil court cannot direct the police to arrest a person for its proceeding under the CPC;
• Before issuance of warrant, preconditions for issuance of notice and subsistence allowance have to be complied with;
• Women cannot be arrested in execution of a money decree;

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