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2006 DIGILAW 2994 (PNJ)

Baljit Singh v. Maya Ram

2006-07-24

VINOD K.SHARMA

body2006
JUDGMENT Vinod K. Sharma, J. - The present appeal has been filed against the order passed by the Additional District Judge, Kurukshetra vide which the application moved by the appellant under Order 41 Rule 19 read with Section 151 CPC for readmission of the appeal has been rejected. Learned Additional District Judge vide order dated 6.10.1997 was pleased to dismiss the appeal for non-prosecution. The order passed reads as under :- "Counsel for the appellants today pleads no instructions to appear on behalf of the appellants. Case called again. Nobody else is coming on behalf of the appellants. So, the appeal is dismissed in default for non- prosecution. File be consigned to the record room." 2. The appellant herein moved an application under Order 41 Rule 19 CPC for readmission of the appeal dismissed in default. It was pleaded by the appellant that due to ailment, he could not be present in the Court on 6.10.1997 and had instructed his counsel to appear in the Court. It was the case of the appellant that he was treated in Vimal Nursing Home at Ladwa and Mahavir Sewadal Nursing Home Ladwa, Government Hospital Ladwa and therefore remained on bed for sufficiently long period and therefore, could not contact his counsel. It was a case of the appellant that on slight recovery when he contacted his counsel, he came to know that the appeal was dismissed for non- prosecution on 6.10.1997 in spite of instructions having been given to his counsel to appear on his behalf. The said application was contested by the respondents on the plea that the application was barred by time and also that the appellant by his own conduct was stopped from filing the application for readmission of the appeal. The case set up by the respondents was that the counsel had pleaded no instructions and therefore it could not be said that he was busy in another Court and therefore, the allegation that the counsel could not appear being busy in another Court was totally false. It was also the case of the respondent that there was no reason to condone the delay. The learned Court below by holding that no medical record was produced regarding his admission in the hospital came to the conclusion that the stand taken by him was wrong. It was also the case of the respondent that there was no reason to condone the delay. The learned Court below by holding that no medical record was produced regarding his admission in the hospital came to the conclusion that the stand taken by him was wrong. It was also observed by the learned Court below that the appellant had two other brothers who could have appeared in the Court and therefore no benefit of his absence can be granted to him. The learned Court below also observed that as the counsel for the appellant had pleaded no instructions, then it was the duty of the Court to issue notice to the parties and in absence thereof the application deserves to be allowed and appeal re-admitted. (a) Atar Singh and others v. Lotan Singh and others, AIR 1992 Allahabad 59. (b) Tahil Ram Issardas Sadarangani and others v. Ram Chand Issardas Sadarangani and another, AIR 1993 Supreme Court 1182. (c) Malkiat Singh and another v. Joginder Singh and others, 1998(1) PLR 271. (d) Surinder Kumar v. Ram Nath, 2001(3) RCR(Civil) 315. (e) Harjinder Singh v. Kirpal Singh, 2000(2) Civil Court Cases 366 (P&H). (f) Rajasthan State Industrial Development and Investment Corporation Ltd., Jodhpur v. M/s. Modi Thread Mills, 2003(3) Civil Court Cases 268 (Rajasthan). 3. The learned Court below distinguished all the said judgments and by holding that the story put up by the appellant being concocted could not be believed and accordingly dismissed the application. The learned Court below further came to the conclusion that the period of limitation was to run from the date of dismissal of the suit and not from the date of knowledge and therefore, the application filed by the appellant was hopelessly time barred and there was no reason to condone the delay in filing the application. 4. Shri S.M. Sharma, learned counsel for the petitioner by relying upon the judgment of the Honble Supreme Court in the case of Malkiat Singh and another v. Joginder Singh and others, 1998(1) PLR 271 to contend that when the counsel had pleaded no instructions and no notice was issued to the appellant who was not present in the Court then the Court ought to have readmitted the appeal and heard the same on merits. He also placed reliance upon the judgment of the Honble Supreme Court reported in Tahil Ram Issardas Sadarangani and others v. Ram Chand Issardas Sadarangani and another, AIR 1993 Supreme Court 1182 to contend that when an Advocate withdraws from the Court and the petitioners are not present in the Court, then the interest of justice requires that a fresh notice for actual date of hearing should be sent to the parties. Thus, the contention of the counsel for the appellant was that once it was shown to the Court that on the date when counsel pleaded no instructions and the appellant was not present, it was the duty of the Court to have issued notice to the parties. The contention of the counsel for the appellant is that since this procedure was not followed, his application ought to have been allowed. 5. Mr. Pritam Saini, Advocate appearing on behalf of respondent Nos. 1 to 4 places reliance upon the judgment of this Court in the case of Suresh Kumar v. Smt. Daryai and others, 1996(3) PLR 379 to contend that if the counsel pleaded no instructions, then the blame lies on the concerned party and it is not open to it to plead that it was prevented from appearing in the Court due to sufficient cause. The learned counsel further argued that in view of the judgment, no fresh notice to party was required when it was already represented by the counsel. I have gone through the judgment relied upon by the counsel for the petitioner and find that the judgment of the Honble Supreme Court in Tahil Ram v. Ram Chand was distinguished on facts in the said case. It is pertinent to notice here that in para 15 of the judgment, this Court was pleased to observe as under :- "In view of the above exposition of law, we hold that it is not necessary for the Court/Tribunal or other Quasi Judicial Authority to give a fresh notice in all cases where a party is represented by a counsel or representative at one stage but subsequently such counsel/representative withdraws from the case or pleads no instructions." Thus, it is clear that even this court nowhere laid down that no notice was required to be given to the parties when the counsel pleaded no instructions. Learned counsel for the respondents also places reliance on the judgment of this Court in the case of Bhairo Parshad v. Karam Chand and others, 2001(1) PLJ 15 to contend that it was not necessary for the Court to give fresh notice to the parties. This judgment again has been passed by placing reliance on the Division Bench Judgment of this Court in the case of Suresh Kumar v. Smt. Daryai and others, 1996(3) PLR 379. 6. As regards the observations of the learned Court below that there was no evidence to prove the illness for want of production of record, the learned counsel placed reliance on the judgment of this Court in Kanshi Ram v. Haryana State and others, 2004(2) Civil Court Cases 362 (P&H) wherein it was held that non-examination of doctor or Vaid in support of assertion of illness alone was not a ground to reject the explanation. It may also be noticed here that this Court also came to the conclusion that the party cannot be made to suffer for the fault of the counsel and the suit was ordered to be restored. In the present case, the order dated 6.10.1997 shows that the appellant was not present in Court when the counsel pleaded no instructions and therefore, it was incumbent upon the Court to have issued notice to the parties. Since this was not done, the order suffers from an illegality which needs to be set right. It may be mentioned here that the judgments of this Court relied upon by the counsel for the respondents are dealing with the cases in the trial Court where the party is normally required to be present and the judgments are on the facts of a particular case and cannot be applied universally as is sought to be contended by the learned counsel for the respondent. In view of what has been stated above, this appeal is allowed, the order dated 11.9.2004 passed by the Additional District Judge, Kurukshetra is set aside and the appeal is directed to be readmitted for hearing on merit. However, keeping in view the fact that the respondents had to suffer due to the pleading of no-instructions by the counsel for the appellant, they are required to be compensated with costs. The appellant shall pay a sum of Rs. 5,000/- as costs to the respondent. Appeal allowed.