THE CODE OF CIVIL PROCEDURE (AMENDMENT) ACT, 1999

CONTENTS

THE CODE OF CIVIL PROCEDURE (AMENDMENT) Act, 1999
(46 of 1999)

[30th December, 1999]

An Act further to amend the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908, the Limitation Act, 1963 and the Court Fees Act, 1870.

Be it enacted by Parliament in the Fiftieth Year of the Republic of India as follows: —

CHAPTER I  - Preliminary

1. Short title and commencement —

(1) This Act may be called the Code of Civil Procedure (Amendment) Act, 1999.

(2) It shall come into force on such date as the Central Government may, by notification in the Official Gazette, appoint, and different dates may be appointed for different provisions of this Act and for different States or for different parts thereof.

CHAPTER II  - Amendment of Sections

2. Amendment of section 26 —

In the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 (5 of 1908) (hereinafter referred to as the principal Act), existing section 26 shall be re-numbered as sub-section (1), and after sub-section (1) as so renumbered, the following sub-section shall be inserted, namely: —

"(2) In every plaint, facts shall be proved by affidavit."

3. Amendment of section 27 —

In section 27 of the principal Act, the following words shall be inserted at the end, namely: —

"on such day not beyond thirty days from date of the institution of the suit".

4. Amendment of section 32 —

In section 32 of the principal Act, in clause (c) for the words "not exceeding five hundred rupees" the words "not exceeding five thousand rupees" shall be substituted.

5. Amendment of section 58 —

In section 58 of the principal Act, —

(i) in sub-section (1),—

(a) in clause (a), for the words "one thousand rupees", the words "five thousand rupees" shall be substituted;

(b) for clause (b), the following clause shall be substituted, namely:—

"(b) where the decree is for the payment of a sum of money exceeding two thousand rupees, but not exceeding five thousand rupees, for a period not exceeding six weeks:";

(ii) in sub-section (1A), for the words "five hundred rupees", the words "two thousand rupees" shall be substituted.

6. Amendment of section 60 —

In section 60 of the principal Act, in the first proviso to sub-section (1), in clause (i), for the words "four hundred rupees", the words "one thousand rupees" shall be substituted.

7. Insertion of new section 89 —

In the principal Act, after section 88, the following section shall be inserted, namely:—

"89. Settlement of disputes outside the Court —

(1) Where it appears to the Court that there exist elements of a settlement which may be acceptable to the parties, the Court shall formulate the terms of settlement and give them to the parties for their observations and after receiving the observations of the parties, the Court may reformulate the terms of a possible settlement and refer the same for—

(a) arbitration;

(b) conciliation;

(c) judicial settlement including settlement through Lok Adalat; or

(d) mediation.

(2) Where a dispute has been referred—

(a) for arbitration or conciliation, the provisions of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 (26 of 1996) shall apply as if the proceedings for arbitration or conciliation were referred for settlement under the provisions of that Act;

(b) to Lok Adalat, the Court shall refer the same to the Lok Adalat in accordance with the provisions of sub-section (1) of section 20 of the Legal Services Authority Act, 1987 (39 of 1987) and all other provisions of that Act shall apply in respect of the dispute so referred to the Lok Adalat;

(c) for judicial settlement, the Court shall refer the same to a suitable institution or person and such institution or person shall be deemed to be a Lok Adalat and all the provisions of the Legal Services Authority Act, 1987 (39 of 1987) shall apply as if the dispute were referred to a Lok Adalat under the provisions of that Act;

(d) for mediation, the Court shall effect a compromise between the parties and shall follow such procedure as may be prescribed.".

Comments

If a court finds that there are certain elements of settlement in the dispute which may be acceptable to the parties, then it can formulate the terms of settlement and give them to the parties for their observations and after getting a nod from the parties it can refer the dispute for (i) arbitration, (ii) conciliation, (iii) judicial settlement (through Lok Adalat) or (iv) mediation.

8. Amendment of Section 95 —

In section 95 of the principal Act, in sub-section (1), for the words "not exceeding one thousand rupees", the words "not exceeding fifty thousand rupees" shall be substituted.

9. Amendment of Section 96 —

In section 96 of the principal Act, in sub-section (4), for the words "three thousand rupees", the words "ten thousand rupees" shall be substituted.

10. Substitution of new section for Section 100A —

For section 100A of the principal Act, the following section shall be substituted, namely:—

"100A. No further appeal in certain cases — Notwithstanding anything contained in any Letters Patent for any High Court or in any other instrument having the force of law or in any other law for the time being in force,—

(a) where any appeal from an original or appellate decree or order is heard and decided,

(b) where any writ, direction or order is issued or made on an application under article 226 or article 227 of the Constitution, by a single Judge of High Court, no further appeal shall lie from the judgment, decision or order of such Single Judge.".

11. Substitution of new section for section 102 —

For section 102 of the principal Act, the following section shall be substituted, namely:—

"102. No second appeal in certain cases — No second appeal shall lie from any decree, when the amount or value of the subject-matter of the original suit does not exceed twenty-five thousand rupees.".

Comments

If the amount or value of the subject-matter of the original suit is not more than 25,000 rupees then no second appeal can be filed.

12. Amendment of section 115 —

In section 115 of the principal Act, in sub-section (1),—

(i) for the proviso, the following proviso shall be substituted, namely:—

"Provided that the High Court shall not, under this section, vary or reverse any order made, or any order deciding an issue, in the course of a suit or other proceeding, except where the order, if it had been made in favour of the party applying for revision, would have finally disposed of the suit or other proceedings.";

(ii) after sub-section (2), but before the Explanation, the following sub-section shall be inserted, namely:—

"(3) A revision shall not operate as a stay of suit or other proceeding before the Court except where such suit or other proceeding is stayed by the High Court.".

13. Amendment of section 148 —

In section 148 of the principal Act, after the words "such period", the words "not exceeding thirty days in total," shall be inserted.

CHAPTER III  - Amendment of Orders

14. Amendment of Order IV —

In the First Schedule to the principal Act (hereinafter referred to as the First Schedule), in Order IV, in rule 1,—

(i) in sub-rule (1), for the words "plaint to the Court", the words "plaint in duplicate to the Court" shall be substituted;

(ii) after sub-rule (2), the following sub-rule shall be inserted, namely:—

"(3) The plaint shall not be deemed to be duly instituted unless it complies with the requirements specified in sub-rules (1) and (2).".

15. Amendment of Order V —

In the First Schedule, in Order V, —

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

"(1) When a suit has been duly instituted, a summon may be issued to the defendant to appear and answer the claim and to file the written statement of his defence, if any, on such day within thirty days from the day of institution of the suit as may be specified therein:

Provided that no such summons shall be issued when a defendant has appeared at the presentation of the plaint and admitted the plaintiff's claim:

Provided further that where the defendant fails to file the written statement on the said day, he shall be allowed to file the same on such other day which shall not be beyond thirty days from the date of service of summons on the defendant, as the Court may think fit.";

(ii) for rule 2, the following shall be substituted, namely:—

"2. Copy of plaint annexed to summons.— Every summon shall be accompanied by a copy of the plaint.";

(iii) in rule 6, for the words "for the appearance of the defendant", the words brackets and figures "under sub-rule (1) of rule 1" shall be substituted;

(iv) in rule 7, for the words "all documents", the words, figures and letters "all documents or copies thereof specified in rule 1A of Order VIII" shall be substituted;

(v) for rule 9, the following rules shall be substituted, namely:—

"9. Delivery of summons to the plaintiff or his agent —

(1) The Court shall issue summons and deliver the same to the plaintiff or his agent, for service, and direct the summons to be served by registered post acknowledgement due or by speed post or by such courier service as may be approved by the High Court or by fax message or by Electronic Mail Service or by such other means as the High Court may prescribe by rules, addressed to the defendant to accept the service at the place where the defendant or his agent actually and voluntarily resides or carries on business or personally works for gain.

(2) The plaintiff or his agent shall send the summons by any means as directed by the Court under sub-rule (1) within two days from the delivery of summons to the plaintiff by the Court under that sub-rule.

(3) When an acknowledgement or any other receipt purporting to be signed by the defendant or his agent received by the Court or postal article containing the summons is received back by the Court with an endorsement purporting to have been made by a postal employee or by any authorised person to the effect that the defendant or his agent had refused to take delivery of the postal article containing the summons or refused to accept the summons by any other means specified in sub-rule (1), when tendered or transmitted to him the Court issuing the summons shall declare that the summons had been duly served on the defendant:

Provided that summons was properly addressed, pre-paid and duly sent by registered post acknowledgement due, the declaration referred to in this sub-rule shall be made notwithstanding the fact that the acknowledgement having been lost or misled or for any other reasons has not been received by the Court on the date fixed by it."

9A. Simultaneous issue of summons for service by the Court controlled process.—

(1) The Court may, in addition to, and simultaneously with the delivery of summons for service to the plaintiff as provided in the manner provided in rule 9, may also direct that summons to be served on the defendant or his agent empowered to accept the service at the place where the defendant or his agent actually and voluntarily resides or carries on business or personally works for gain.

(2) The summons shall, unless the Court otherwise direct, be delivered or sent to the proper officer in such manner as may be prescribed by the High Court to be served by him or one of his subordinates.

(3) The proper officer may be an officer of the Court other than that in which the suit is instituted, and where he is such an officer, the summons may be sent to him in such manner as the Court may direct.

(4) The proper officer may serve the summons by registered post acknowledgement due, by speed post, by such courier service as may be approved by the High Court, by fax message, by Electronic Mail service or by such other means as may be provided by the rules made by the High Court.";

(vi) rule 19A shall be omitted;

(vii) in rule 21, for the words "or by post", the words "or by post or by such courier service as may be approved by the High Court, by fax message or by Electronic Mail service or by any other means as may be provided by the rules made by the High Court" shall be substituted;

(viii) in rule 24, for the words "by post or otherwise", the words "or by post or by such courier service as may be approved by the High Court, by fax message or by Electronic Mail service or by any other means as may be provided by the rules made by the High Court" shall be substituted;

(ix) in rule 25, for the words "by post," the words "or by post or by such courier service as may be approved by the High Court, by fax message or by Electronic Mail service or by any other means as may be provided by the rules made by the High Court" shall be substituted.

16. Amendment of Order VI —

In the First Schedule, in Order VI,—

(i) rule 5 shall be omitted;

(ii) in rule 15, after sub-rule (3), the following sub-rule shall be inserted, namely:—

"(4) The person verifying the pleading shall also furnish an affidavit in support of his pleadings.";

(iii) rules 17 and 18 shall be omitted.

Comments

Under rule 9 the Court has been empowered to issue summons and deliver the same to the plaintiff or his agent for service, and direct the summons to be served by (i) registered post acknowledgement due or (ii) by speed post or (iii) by High Court approved Courier Service or (iv) by fax massage or (v) by Electronic Mail service or (vi) by such other means as the High Court may prescribe by rules, addressed to the defendant to accept the service at the place where the defendant or his agent actually and voluntarily resides or carries on business or personally works for gain. The plaintiff or his agent shall send the summons by any means stated above within 2 days from the delivery of the summons to the plaintiff by court.

Under rule 9A the Court can also, in addition to, and simultaneously with the delivery of summons for service to the plaintiff, direct that summons to be served on the defendant or his agent.