Zimidara Trading Co. vs Kanwar Bhan alias Kora

S.D. Anand, J.—The controversy between the parties pertains to the recovery of certain amount, for which purpose the respondent-plaintiff had filed a suit for recovery against the defendant-petitioner. At the trial, three documents (Ex.D3,Ex. D9 and Ex. D10) were put to the plaintiff-respondent in the course of cross-examination. Those documents otherwise formed part of the pleadings-related evidence adduced by the defendant-petitioner. However, it is only the concluding page of those documents (copies of ledger etc.) which came to be exhibited. The preceding pages were not got exhibited at the trial. On realising the error, the defendant-petitioner applied for the leave of the Court to tender those pages as well into evidence.

The plea did not find favour with the learned Trial Court.

The defendant-petitioner is in revision.

The learned Counsel for the defendant-petitioner states that he has not and would not apply for the recall of the plaintiff-respondent into the witness box for being confronted with the preceding pages of Ex.D3, Ex.D9 and Ex. D10 and that those pages shall be merely tendered into evidence by the learned Counsel before the learned Trial Court.

The learned Counsel for the plaintiff-respondent states that he has reservations about the valid reception of those documents into evidence without those being formally proved and further that the reception of those documents may also not be permissible without the plaintiff-respondent being recalled into the witness box for being confronted therewith.

Even in the face of the averment by the learned Counsel for the plaintiff-respondent, the learned Counsel appearing on behalf of the defendant-petitioner reiterates the stand noticed above.

The petition shall stand disposed of with a direction that the learned Counsel appearing on behalf of the defendant-petitioner (before the learned Trial Court) may be afforded one opportunity to tender the documents into evidence. The mere allowance of that part of the request shall not be inferred to be an expression of opinion on the validity of tender/mode of proof. It will be for the learned Trial Court to decide about whether the mere tender of the documents would be in accord with the principles of substantive evidence or whether those pages can be considered to be sunstantive evidence. It will be for the learned Trial Court to form its own opinion in the context of the proof and utilisation of those pages as substantive evidence. The allowance of the petition shall be subject to payment of Rs. 10,000/- as costs.