The single Judge bench of Justice Alka Sarin of the Punjab and Haryana High court in the case of Pala Ram V. Sub-divisional Officer and another held that an application under Order 41 Rule 27 CPC is to be evaluated during the merits hearing to determine if the documents and/or evidence requested to be adduced have any relevance/bearing on the issues concerned.
BRIEF FACTS
The factual matrix of the case is that the present civil application is filed under article 227 of the Indian constitution to challenge the order of dismissing an application under order 41 rule 27 CPC on the ground that they have moved to a belated stage.
The learned counsel appearing on behalf of the petitioner contended that the stage of consideration of an application filed under Order 41 Rule 27 CPC is when the appeal on merits is heard, to determine if the documents or evidence sought to be adduced are relevant. The learned counsel in order to support this argument relied on the judgment titled, Union of India Vs. Ibrahim Uddin & Anr.
The learned counsel appearing on behalf of the respondents contended that the petitioners were given multiple opportunities to file the application for additional evidence. However, the application has been filed when the appeal was pending. It was further contended that even when the appeal was filed no application for additional evidence was filed though all documents were within the knowledge of the petitioner
COURT’S OBSERVATION
The hon’ble court while relying upon the apex court’s decision in the case of Union of India Vs. Ibrahim Uddin & Anr stated that it is very clear that the application filed at the appellate stage for leading additional evidence is to be heard at the time of the final hearing of the appeal at a stage when after appreciating the evidence on record, the court reaches the conclusion that additional evidence was required to be taken on record in order to pronounce the judgment or for any other substantial cause. This clearly has not been done in the present case. Further, the civil petition is allowed and the lower Appellate Court is directed to consider the application for additional evidence at the time of the final hearing in the appeal, in accordance with the law.
CASE NAME – Pala Ram V. Sub-divisional Officer and another
CITATION- CR-7507-2018 (O&M)
DATED- 18.08.2022
CORUM- Justice Alka Sarin
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