NATIONAL LAW INSTITUTE UNIVERSITY

BHOPAL(M.P.)

A C.P.C. PROJECT
ON

DISCOVERY AND INSPECTION OF DOCUMENTS IN CIVIL LAW

SUBMITTED TO- SUBMITTED BY-

Miss Gargi Rajvanshi ADITYA NARAYAN MISHRA

Assistant Professor 2011 BA.LLB.54

1|Page
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I am very grateful to our C.P.C. professor, for providing me this opportunity to research on this
topic and complete my project. I would also like to thank her for her extremely valuable
suggestions, which supported me in completing this project.

ADITYA NARAYAN MISHRA

2011 B.A.L.L.B. 54

2|Page
 Contents

DISCOVERY .................................................................................................................................................... 4

Meaning .................................................................................................................................................... 4

Nature And Scope ..................................................................................................................................... 4

DISCOVERY OF DOCUMENTS: Rules 12-14 ................................................................................................... 5

Nature And Scope ..................................................................................................................................... 5

Object ........................................................................................................................................................ 6

Who may seek discovery?......................................................................................................................... 6

Against whom discovery may be ordered ................................................................................................ 6

Conditions ................................................................................................................................................. 6

Objection against discovery ...................................................................................................................... 6

Rules as to discovery ................................................................................................................................. 7

Inspection of Documents: Rules 15-19 ......................................................................................................... 8

BIBLIOGRAPHY .............................................................................................................................................. 9

3|Page
 DISCOVERY

Meaning

Discovery means to compel the opposite party to disclose what he has in his possession or power.
It is thus a compulsory disclosure by a party to an action of facts or documents on which the other
side wishes to rely.1

So "Discovery" is the process each party can use to learn what evidence the other side has about
the dispute. The discovery process takes time, and can be expensive, intrusive and frustrating,
especially if you do not have the help of an attorney. Discovery may not be needed in very simple
cases, but both parties have a right to use discovery to get relevant information that the other party
has about the facts of the case.2

Nature And Scope

After the settlement of issues, a party to a suit may require information from his adversary as to
facts or as to documents in possession or power of such party, relevant to the issues in the suit.
Where information as to fact is required, the party is allowed to put a series of questions to his
adversary. These questions are called interrogatories.

The judge will go through the proposed questions and, if he considers them proper,he will compel
the other side to answer them on oath before trial. This is called discovery of facts. On the other
hand, if information as to documents is required, the party may apply for an order compelling the
other party to submit a list of the relevant documents in his possession or power, and, in certain
circumstances, for permission to inspect and take copies of those documents. This is known as
discovery of documents.

1
Concise Oxford English Dictionary (2002) at p. 409
2
http://www.mncourts.gov/selfhelp/?page=3444

4|Page
 DISCOVERY OF DOCUMENTS: Rules 12-14

Nature And Scope

Discovery is of two kinds,namely:

i. Discovery by interrogatories;
ii. Discovery of documents.

Generally speaking, a party is entitled to inspection of all documents which do not themselves
constitute exclusively the other partys evidence of his case or title.if a party wants inspection of
documents in the possession of the opposite party, he cannot inspect them unlees the other party
produce them. The party wanting inspection must, therefore, call upon the opposite party to
produce the documents. And how can a party do this unless he knows what documents are in the
possession or power of the other party? In other words, unless the party seeking discovery knows
what are the documents in the possession or custody of the oopposite party which would throw
light upon the question in controversy, how is it possible for him to ask for discovery of specific
documents? Rule 12, therefore, enables a party without filling a affidavit to apply to the court for
the purpose of compelling his opponent to disclose the documents in the possession or power,
relating to any matter in question in the suit.3

If the court make an order for discovery, the opposite party is bound to make an affidavit of
documents and, if he fails to do so, he will subject to the penalties specified in Rule 21.

After he has dsclosed the documents by affidavit, he may be required to produce for inspection
such of the documents as he is in possession of and as are relevant. The documents sought to be
discovered need not be admissible in evidence in enquiry or proceedings. It is sufficient if the
documents would be relevant for the purpose of throwing light on the matter in controversy.

The word document in this context includes anything that is written or printed, no matter what
the material may be, upon which the writing or printing is inserted or imprinted.4

3
M.L.Sethi v.R.P. Kapur
4
Central Bank of India v. Shivam Udyog

5|Page
Object

1. Firstly, to secure as far as possible, the discloser on oath of all material documents
in possession or power of the opposite party under the sanction of penalties attached
to a false oath; and
2. Secondly, to put an end to what might otherwise lead to a protected enquiry as to
the material documents actually in possession or power of the opposite party.

Thus, this procedure (a) elicits admissions; (b) obviates necessity of leading lengthy evidence; and
(c) expedites trial of suits and thereby assists courts in administration of justice.

Who may seek discovery?

A party to a suit may apply to the court for an order of discovery. This can be done either by filing
an affidavit or otherwise. If the court makes an order of discovery, the opposite party must in an
affidavit set forth all the documents which are or have been in his possession, custody or power.5

Against whom discovery may be ordered

An order of discovery may be against a person who is the party to the suit. Where a suit is institute
by a nominal plantiff, e.g. benamidar, the person or persons are actually interested may be ordered
to give discovery.

Conditions

Discovery of documents may be ordered by a court if the following conditions are satisfied:

1) It is necessary for fair disposal of suit;

2) For saving costs.

Objection against discovery

Discovery may be objected on the ground that it is not necessary or not necessary at that stage of
the suit. An objection or reason against discovery should be taken clearly and expressly in the

5
Rule 12

6|Page
affidavit. It is not enough to stated how they are privileged. It must also be stated how they are
privileged so as to enable the court to decide the claim.

Rules as to discovery

The general rules as to discovery of documents may be summarized as under:

i. Any party to a suit may apply to the court for an order directing the other party to make
discovery an oath of the documents which are or were in possession or power relating to
any matter in question in the suit.
ii. Normally, it is at the desertion of the court to grant or refuse discovery of document.
iii. The court may exercise this power at any stage, either of its own motion or an application
of any party and subject to such conditions and limitation as may be prescribed by it.
iv. The court may either refuse or adjourn such application if satisfied that such discovery is
not nessesary at that stage of the suit or make such order as it things fit.
v. Discovery cannot be ordered by the court if it is of the opinion that it is not necessary either
for the fair bdisposal of the suit or for saving costs.
vi. Failure to comply with the order of discovery, inspection or production of document may
result in adverse inference against the defaulting party.

7|Page
 Inspection of Documents: Rules 15-19

Rules 15 to 19 deal with inspection of documents. For the purpose of inspection, documents may
be divided into two classes:

i. The documents referred to in the pleading or affidavits of parties;

ii. Other documents in the possession or power of the party but not referred to in the pleading
of the parties.

As regard the first class of the documents, a party to a suit is entitle to inspection. And without the
intervention of the court every party may give notice in the prescribed form to the other party in
whose pleading they are referred to, to produce such document for his inspection. The party to
whom such notice is given should, within ten days from the receipt of such notice, give notice to
the parties claiming such inspection, stating the time and place at which the document may be
inspected and stating his objections, if any, to the production of any of the document. If he fails to
do so, the court may make an order of inspection.

As regard the second class of documents, the party desiring the inspection can only proceed by
way of an application to the court along with an affidavit satisfying the court that the document is
relevant to the case.

The primary object of Rule 15 to 19 of Order 11 is to place the opposite party in the same position
as if the documents had been fully set out in his pleading or in the affidavit.

8|Page
 BIBLIOGRAPHY

http://www.law.cornell.edu/rules/frcp/rule_37
http://www.pacode.com/secure/data/231/partItoc.html
http://california-discovery-law.com/basics_of_discovery.htm#ADMISSIBILITY
Code of Civil Procedure- C.K. Takwani

9|Page