Report No. 163
2.15 Clause 17 of the Amendment Bill.-
(i) Clause 17 of the Amendment Bill proposes changes in rule 9, Order VII dealing with the procedure on admitting plaints. The proposal is to substitute rule 9 in Order VII. This may be effected subject to the caveat that the service of summons should not be by the plaintiff but through the court as discussed hereinabove while dealing with Order V.
(ii) The additional grounds on which the plaint can be rejected as proposed in sub-clause (ii) of clause 17 of the Amendment Bill could also be included subject to the rider that it should be clearly indicated that the failure referred to in each of the proposed sub-clauses (e), (f) and (g) in rule 11 of Order VII, should be a repeated failure.
(iii) The proposed substitution of rule 14 is a step in the right direction but the only thing suggested by the participants - with which the Law Commission agrees - is that the plaintiff should not be compelled to file the original document where he apprehends that it may be tampered with while in the custody of the registry of the Court. It should be open to the plaintiff to file the xerox copies of those documents which he apprehends may be tampered with while in the custody of the registry of the court. But, he shall be under an obligation to produce the same at the trial or as and when called upon by the court.
2.15.1. A number of participants suggested that sub-rule (3) of rule 14 should be so worded that for special reasons to be recorded, the court should be empowered to allow the plaintiff to produce a document or copy thereof which he has not filed with the plaint. According to the Commission, this is a good suggestion. Sub-rule 3 of rule 14 may accordingly be re-cast so as to enable the court to permit the plaintiff to produce a document or a copy thereof which he has not filed along with the plaint.
(iv) The proposal to delete existing rule 15 of Order VII is in order in view of rule 14(2) of Order VII as proposed in the Amendment Bill.
(v) Sub-clause (V) in clause 17 of the Amendment Bill proposes to omit the words "without the leave of the Court" in sub-rule (1) of rule 18. This proposal is consistent with the formulation in proposed rule 14.
