Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 – Or.18, r.17 – Court may recall and examine witness – Power under – Scope – High Court rejected the petition filed by the petitioner u/Or.18, r.17 – Correctness:
Held: Power to recall and re-examine a witness is exclusively that of the court trying the suit – Parties to the suit cannot take any objection to the question asked nor can they be permitted to cross-examine any witness without the leave of the court – The right to put questions to the witness recalled u/r.17 is given only to the court and even cross-examination is not ordinarily permitted on the answers given to such questions, without the leave of the court – Therefore, u/r.17 a witness cannot be recalled at the instance of a party for examining, cross examining or re-examining – However, if circumstances warrant, an opportunity to a party to re-call a witness for examining, cross-examining or re-examining can be granted by a Court in the exercise of its inherent jurisdiction u/s.151, CPC – Power u/Or.18, r.17 is to be used for removing ambiguities, for clarifying the statement and not for filling up the lacuna in a party’s case – This power should be used sparingly and in exceptional cases only – SLPs dismissed – Evidence Act, 1872 – s.165. [Paras 7, 8, 10, 13]
Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 – Or.18, r.17 – Court may recall and examine witness – Power u/Or.18, r.17 – Scope and exercise of. [Paras 7, 8, 12]
As published in the Supreme Court Reports, Supreme Court of India. Headnotes prepared by: Divya Pandey. Text from the Indian Supreme Court Judgments open data set (Dattam Labs), CC BY 4.0.
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