Report No. 163

18. Amendment of Order VIII.- In the First Schedule, in Order VIII,-

(i) for rule 1, the following rule shall be substituted, namely:-

"1. Written statement,-The defendant shall at or before the first hearing or within such time as the court may permit, which shall not be beyond thirty days from the date of service of summons on the defendant, present a written statement of his defence.";

(ii) after rule 1 so inserted, the following rule shall be inserted, namely:-

"1A. Duty of defendant to produce documents upon which relief is claimed or relied upon by him.-(1) Where the defendant bases his defence upon a document or relies upon any document in his possession or power, in support of his defence or claim for set off or counter claim, he shall enter such document in a list, and shall produce it in court when the written statement is presented by him and shall, at the same time, deliver the document and a copy thereof, to be filed with the written statement.

(2) Where any such document is not in the possession or power of the defendant, he shall, wherever possible, stale in whose possession or power it is.

(3) Where a document or a copy thereof is not filed with the written statement under this rule, it shall not be allowed to be received in evidence on behalf of the defendant at the hearing of the suit.

(4) Nothing in this rule shall apply to documents-

(a) produced for the cross examination of the plaintiffs witnesses; or

(b) handed over to a witness merely to refresh his memory;

(iii) rules 8A, 9 and 10 shall be omitted.