A Judgment and Order Obtained Through Fraud (Part 3)

Countless judgments have come out in the last five years, the court's approach is changing rapidly, society is changing, and as fraud keeps taking new forms, the courts' outlook keeps shifting accordingly. Courts are not mechanical, not robots into which a chip is installed and they follow it, courts are also part of this society, judges are also part of this society, they too keep their ears and eyes open and watch everything. New and creative methods of fraud and misrepresentation began emerging, then some things that weren't actually fraud and misrepresentation, various methods began emerging to disguise them as fraud and misrepresentation. Now the courts have restricted this, ten years ago a 12(2) application would come stating simply that it was obtained through fraud and misrepresentation, and that was enough, but now courts have said you must specifically set out in your applications exactly what fraud occurred, exactly what misrepresentation occurred, and after setting that out, you must then say this is not legally acceptable, and below that you must pray that this judgment and decree, or order, be set aside, and after hearing me, be re-decided. After making me a party, it be re-decided. One thing you must never say, whether you learned of it a day ago or two days ago, whatever 12(2) application you file to challenge the judgment and decree, you must also file an application for condonation of delay, under the Limitation Act 1905 you must absolutely file an application for condonation of delay. Don't do this: thinking, well, the law says my limitation starts from the day I gained knowledge, the question of knowledge also becomes an issue, if you say you learned two days ago, your statement isn't gospel truth, what he said isn't gospel truth either, your statement won't be treated as irrelevant either, so you must file the limitation application, if it's beyond the reach of the judgment's timeframe, you learn of it a year ago, it's a two-year-old judgment, a year-old judgment, a two-year-old judgment, a ten-year-old judgment, you feel like it was two days ago, genuinely feel that way, but still don't take chances, you must attach an application for condonation of delay in every single case, why? Because even if your stated fraud and your stated misrepresentation, meaning the fraud and misrepresentation, are accepted by the mind, you don't want to get knocked out on a technicality, this would be very damaging, the court's hands would be tied, thinking, well, he's absolutely right that fraud occurred, he's absolutely right that misrepresentation occurred, but he's come with delay, now what do I do, my hands are tied, so an application for condonation of delay must accompany it. Then after this, a successful lawyer's focus should be on drafting the 12(2) application in such a way that there's no need to create further issues, it should be so self-evidently proven that the court is forced to think, well, there's simply no answer to this fraud and misrepresentation, what evidence would I even take on this, they haven't even left any real gap, and all this documentary evidence, this is an admission of fact, that's the straightforward path, the court accepts the 12(2) application. Once accepted, the suit through which the decree was obtained by misrepresentation and fraud gets restored, back to the original stage, then your written statement will go in, then there will be evidence, issues will be framed, evidence will be recorded, then a judgment will come, now I've told you all these things. Now the important concept of 12(2) that every lawyer should keep in mind is this: not just a judgment and decree, but any order, even an interlocutory order, obtained through fraud and misrepresentation, and against which appeal and revision don't lie, you can also challenge this under 12(2), that this order was obtained through misrepresentation and fraud, this order too can be challenged, it's not necessary that only judgments and decrees fall under 12(2), and 12(2)'s application applies in every forum. Supreme Court, High Court, District Court, Civil Court, Revenue Courts, Election Tribunal, every civil forum there is, it applies in all of them, the condition being that there was fraud and misrepresentation. I hope I have also explained the technical foundations to you.