How to File a Civil Suit (Part 2)

Now a lawyer asked, sir, couldn't someone remove this document too? Well, if you're that suspicious that someone could remove even this, keep in mind that the court stamps the document filed, when you file a suit, the court puts a filing stamp on it. Now, to obtain a certified copy, it is necessary that the document bear the court's filing stamp and signature, only then will a certified copy be issued. If you suspect your documents might be destroyed, immediately obtain a certified copy of them and keep it with you, and if tomorrow this same document is pulled out or removed, you can have the file reconstructed. I'd like to request one thing of you: whenever you file a suit, the client comes, pays the fee, whenever you file a suit, immediately get a certified copy of the entire case file bearing the filing stamp. It happens rarely, but it can happen, getting a certified copy of the entire file costs at most four or five hundred rupees, maybe up to a thousand rupees. But the benefit is that if your file gets lost, or the opposing party makes it disappear to gain an advantage, you'll have the certified copy with you, and you can immediately have that file reconstructed without any delay, and if that file does get reconstructed, having the certified copy makes it possible.

Now this is the copy you need to attach under Order 13 Rule 1. After this, under Order 7 Rule 14, you need to give the court an undertaking, that undertaking has three stages. First, the court asks you, sir, have you attached any documents while filing this complaint, this suit? Second stage, are there any documents in your possession that you will present in the future, that you cannot present right now? Third stage, are there any documents you rely on but which are not in your possession? Now here we lawyers make a mistake, we write 'after framing of issues,' 'after framing of issues,' 'after framing of issues, if necessary,' 'after the framing of issues,' this is wrong. Neither does the law permit it, nor does the law follow it, nor is the law bound by it. The intent of the law is that everything should be fair, no surprises are allowed in the pursuit of justice, you cannot spring surprises. A document is in your possession, in your hand, and you suddenly say, sir, I want to present this. The law says, no, throw this document in the trash. If it was in your possession, under your control, under your authority, why didn't you file it while filing the suit, and if you had it and didn't want to present it, why didn't you mention it, saying, sir, it's within my reach, I'll present it later for such-and-such reason, or I don't want to for some reason, or it's in my possession but lying somewhere I can't immediately retrieve it from. Then comes the surprise element, that you cannot argue based on someone else's record. You can only show reliance on someone else's record, bring that reliance forward, when you've already told the court, sir, I rely on this record. Now look, there's a property, its original record lies with the relevant revenue department, lies at some patwar circle, or lies with some sub-registrar, and I know these documents are lying there, so I should be relying on it. I should tell the court that I intend to rely on these documents in the future. For this there's a proforma, read Order 7 Rule 14, all the detail is written there. First column: what documents have you attached while filing this suit, write it according to the list of documents attached under Order 13 Rule 1. In the second column: are there any documents you want to present in the future, write the details. In the third column: are there any documents you rely on but which are not in your possession, the original documents are in someone else's possession, that could be a department, could be a private person, could even be your defendant, in the defendant's possession. People panic when a client comes and says, sir, such-and-such property was my father's property but I have no documents, what do I do, the documents are with the defendant. Well, nothing stops you, write the details of that property, saying, I don't know further details, all the documents are in the defendant's possession, I have a right to it, it should be given to me. The court will immediately tell the defendant that you hold the documents for these properties, they might lie, saying, I don't have them, I have no connection to this. The matter won't end there, you file a local commission application.