HOW TO FILE A CIVIL SUIT

For filing a civil case or civil law suit, there is a detailed process laid down, if the process is not followed, then the registry has a right to dismiss the suit. The Procedure is as follows:

Filing of Suit/Plaint - Plaint is the written complaint or allegation. One who files it is known as "Plaintiff" and against whom it is filed is known as "Defendant". It contains Name of the Court, Nature of Complaint, Names and Address of parties to be suit, it also contain verification from plaintiff, stating that, contents of the plaint are true and correct

A Plaint contains:

• Name of the Court
• Name and Addresses of the parties between whom the dispute arose
• Subject (a brief statement telling about the sections and orders under which the jurisdiction of the court is evoked)
• Main Content or submissions made by plaintiff
• Verification from plaintiff stating that the contents of the plaint are true and correct.

Vakalatnama- Vakalatnama is a written document, by which the person/party filing the case authorises the Advocate/Lawyer to represent on their behalf. However a person/party filing a case, May also represent their own case personally in any court and in this case he do not need Vakalatnama"

On General Terms, a Vakalatnama may contain below terms:

• The client will not hold the Advocate responsible for any decision
• The client will bear all the costs and/expenses incurred during the proceedings
• The advocate will have right to retain the documents, unless complete fees are paid
• The client is free to disengage the Advocate at any stage of the Proceedings
• The Advocate shall have all the right to take decisions on his own in the court of Law, during the hearing, to the best interest of client

Filing -Filing of plaint before Chief Ministerial Officer [Sherestedar)–paying appropriate court fee & process fees,different amount of court fees is paid for different type documents.The requisite amount of Court fees and stamp duty is different for every suit, and the same is mentioned in the “Court Fees Stamp Act

• In case of plaint/written statement – Rs. 10 if the value of the suit exceed Rs. 5,000/- upto 10,000/-
• In case of plaint filed in a suit for possession – Rs. 5
• On a copy of a Decree or order – 50 paise

Court fees as per value of the Suit

• If the value of the suit exceeds Rs. 1,50,000-1,55,000 – Rs. 1700/-
• If the value of the suit exceeds Rs. 3,00,000-3,05,000 – Rs. 2450/-
• If the value of the suit exceeds Rs. 4,00,000-4,05,000 – Rs. 2950/-

Hearing: How Proceedings are conducted - On the first day of hearing, if the court thinks there are merits in the case, it will issue notice to the opposite party, to submit their arguments, and fix a date. When the notice is issued to the opposite party, the plaintiff is needed to do the following:

• File requisite amount of procedure - fee in the court.
• File 2 copies of plaint for each defendant in the court.
• Of, the 2 copies for each defendant, one shall be sent by Register/post/courier, and one by Ordinary post.
• Such filing should be done within 7 days, from date of order/notice.

Written Statement -

• When the notice has been issued to the respondent, he is required to appear on the date specified in the notice
• Before such date, the respondent is required to record his written statement i.e. his barrier against the claim raised by offended party, inside 30 days from date of administration of notice, or inside such time as given by court
• The written statement should specifically deny the allegations, which defendant thinks are false. Any allegation not specifically denied is deemed to be admitted
• The written statement should also contain verification from the Defendant, stating that, the contents of written statement are true and correct
• The time period of 30 days, for filing a Written Statement, but after seeking permission of the court it can be extended to 90 days.

Written Statement, set-off and claims by defendant

The defendant needs to submit a written statement on or before the day of appearance. The defendant can also claim a set-off or can make a counter-claim in his written statement. If the defendant does not file written statement then court may take the decision based on plaint itself. If the court requires that the written statement must be filed, and defendant does not do so, then the court may take an decision against the defendant.

Contents of the Written statement

If the defendant relies on any document for his/her defense, set-off, or counter-claim, then those documents should be mentioned in a list and attached along with the written statement. These documents are supposed to be presented to court with the written statement. If the defendant does not possess those documents then he/she should specify in whose possession those documents are.

It should be noted that if any document is not mentioned in the list, it cannot be accepted as evidence in the court unless specifically allowed by the court.

The written statement must individually address all the allegations that the defendant does not agree with in the plaint.

The written statement should also mention the amount claimed by the defendant as set-off claim.

Replication/Rejoinder by Plaintiff

The written statement can also include the details of counter-claim. This counter-claim is treated as plaint. All the documents upon which the counter claim is based should be presented to the court with the counter-claim. The plaintiff may file a written statement against the counter-claim.-

 Replication is a reply, filed by the plaintiff, against the "written statement" of Defendant and it should also specifically deny the allegations raised by the Defendant in written statement. Anything which is not denied is deemed to be accepted.Once Replication is filed, pleadings are stated to be complete.

Filing of Other Documents - Once, the pleadings are complete, and then both the parties are given opportunity to produce and file documents, on which they rely, and to substantiate their claims. Filing of Documents should be admitted and taken on record. In brief the procedure is as follows:

• Documents filed by one party may or may not be admitted by opposite party
• In case documents are denied by opposite party, then they can be admitted by the witness presented by party whose documents are denied
• Once the document has been admitted it shall form a part of the record of court, and all the details of suit such as name of parties, title of suit etc, shall be inscribed on the document
• Documents, which are rejected i.e. not admitted, are returned to the respective parties.
• It is necessary that document should be filed in "original", and a spare copy should be given to the opposite party.

Examination of parties by Court

On the first hearing the court will ask each party whether the allegations are true or false. This can be asked orally by the judge. The response is recorded by the judge in writing.

Framing of Issues – Issues are framed by the Court and on the basis of “Issues” arguments and examinations of witness takes place. Below are the key points:

• Issues are framed, keeping in view the disputes in the suit, and the parties are not allowed to go outside the purview of "Issues"
• Issues may be of: Fact or Law
• At the time of passing final order, the court will deal with each issue separately, and will pass judgements on each issue

List of witness - 

• All witness, the parties wish to produce, and to be examined, has to be presented before the court
• Within 15 days from the date on which issues were framed or within such other period as the court may fix, both the parties to the suit will have  file a list of witness
• The parties may either call the witness by themselves, or can ask the court to send summons to them
• In case court send summons to witness then the party which asked for such witness has to deposit money ' with the Court for their expenses, is known as "Diet Money"
• Any witness, who is not appeared before the court, if he is required by the court to do so, then the court may penalize in terms of fine
• Finally on the date, the witness will be examined by both the parties.Once, the Examination and Cross- Examination of witness is over, and also the admission and denial of documents, then the court will fix a date for final hearing.

Final Argument

Once the evidence has been submitted and cross-examination is conducted by the plaintiff and defendant, both sides are allowed to present a summary of their case and evidence to the judge in the Final argument session.

Final Hearing - 

• On final hearing day, the arguments will take place
• The arguments should strictly be restricted to the issues framed
• Before the final Arguments, the parties with the permission of Court can amend their pleadings
• The court may refuse to listen for anything which is not contained in the pleadings
• Finally, the court will pass a "final Order", either on the day of hearing itself, or some other day which will fixed by the court.

Judgement/ Decree

After the final arguments, the court may give the judgement on the same day or may adjourn the court for a further date. If the court does not give the judgment immediately, then it tries to give the judgement within 15 days. However, if the judgement is not pronounced within 30 days of final hearing then the court needs to record he reason for doing so. The judgement is dated and signed by the judge, and the copy of judgement is given to both parties. The judgement contains the decisions taken by court on all the issues that were framed by the court in the beginning. The judgement also includes the set-off, menus profits or any other claims to be made to either of the parties.

The party in whose favor the judgement is passed is known as decree holder, and the party against whom the judgement is passed is called the judgement debtor.

Review of judgement

If a party is not satisfied with the judgement, then it can file an application for review of the judgement. If the court feels there are not sufficient grounds for the review, then it may reject the application. The court may also reject the application if it was based on some new evidence unless strict proof is provided that the party was earlier unaware of it. Also, when a application for review is received by the court, it shall send a notice to the other patty in order for him/her to appear and present his side. If the application is granted and a judgement has been passed, it cannot be reviewed further.

Certified copy of order- It is the final order of court, and having the seal and stamp of court. It is useful, in case of Appeal or in case of execution of the order.

Appeal, Reference and Review - When an order is passed against a party to the suit, it is not that it has no further remedy. Such party can further initiate the proceedings, by way of:

1. Appeal,
2. Reference, or
3. Review

Appeal - An appeal lies from any decree passed by the court. There are some  technicalities and difference between these stated as follows:

• Where the value of suit does not exceed Rs. 10,000, an appeal can be filed only on a question of law
• When a decree has been passed against the Defendant as "Ex-Parte" (i.e. without his appearance) no appeal is allowed
• When an appeal is headed by two or more judges, then the majority decision will be prevailed
• In case there is no majority, then the decree of lower court shall be confirmed
• If  number of judges in the court where appeal is filed, is more than the number of judges hearing the appeal, and then if there is a disagreement on a point of law, such dispute can be referred to one or more judges

Procedure for appeal from original decrees

• The appeal has to be filed in the form prescribed, signed by the appellant, along with a true certified copy of the order
• The appeal should contain the grounds of objection under distinct heads, and such grounds has to be numbered consecutively
• If the appeal is against a decree for payment of money, the court may require the petitioner to deposit the disputed amount or provide any other security
• A ground/objection which has not been mentioned in the appeal, cannot be taken up for arguments, without the permission of court
• Similarly any point of act which was not taken up y the Appellant, in lower court, cannot be taken up in appeal lies only against only those points which have been decided by the court rightly or wrongly

Limitation

1. For every appeal, there is a limited period, within which appeal should be filed. Such a limitation is provided under the Limitation Act, 1963.
2. For appeal, in case of a decree passed by lower court in civil suit, the limitation is:
   1. Appeal to High Court- 90 days from the date of decree or order.
   2. Appeal to any other court- 30 days from the date of Decree or order.
3. In case there are more than one plaintiffs or defendants, then any one of them can file on appeal against all of them respectively.
4. Merely because an appeal is filed, does not mean that the order or decree of lower court is stayed. In case of temporary stay of decree or order, it has to be specifically asked, and stay will operate only if court grants it.
5. In case of execution of decree, the court, which passed the decree, can itself stay the execution for time being on sufficient reasons shown.
6. The court may require the appellant to deposit some sort of security.
7. The appellate court may, on the day fixed for hearing the appellant dismiss the appeal, or issue notice to the opposite party to appear on next day.
8. If on the first day of hearing, appellate court issues summons to the opposite party, then:
1. It shall fix a date for next hearing, and such date shall be published in the court house.
2. Notice shall also be sent to the lower court, whose decree or order has been appealed.
3. To appellant is required to file " Process Fee " which is very nominal in amount, and on such filing, the notice shall also be sent to opposite party.
4. In case of appeal, the one who files the appeal is known as appellant, and against whom it is filed, is known as "Respondent".

Execution of Decree

If the judgement-debtor needs to pay money, he can submit it in the court or outside the court as well. If the payment is made outside of the court then an evidence of the payment needs to be produced. When a payment is made then judgement-debtor needs to send an acknowledgement to the decree-holder. If the judgement debtor fails to comply to the decree then the decree holder may file an application for execution of decree. The application needs to be filed in the place of judgement-debtor's residence. The decree holder may request the court to assist him by either delivering the property, arrest or detention of person, or any other relief granted in the decree.

The judgement debtor is issued a notice to show cause against execution. If no satisfactory response is shown for the show cause notice, then the court may issue orders to execute the decree. In case of payment of money, the court may order the detention of judgement-debtor in civil prison or sale of judgement-debtor's property. In issues related to movable property, it may be seized and delivered to the other party.