In Absence Of Pleadings, Any Amount Of Evidence Will Not Help The Party In A Civil Suit, Reiterates Supreme Court [Read Judgment]

In absence of pleading, any amount of evidence will not help the party in a civil suit, the Supreme Court has reiterated.

In this case, the plaintiff questioned an adoption deed, executed by his father, in favour of defendant in a civil suit. It was pleaded that there was no adoption by following the necessary formalities and the claim of adoption is false and incorrect. After the evidence was closed, the plaintiff filed an application for summoning the 2001 leave records of one Ramesh Chander Singh from Rajput Regiment Centre Fatehgarh. It was stated in the application that Ramesh Chander Singh, the father of the defendant was not present during the adoption ceremony and he was on duty on the date of alleged adoption ceremony.

The Trial Court dismissed the said application on the ground that there was no such pleading in the plaint and also on the ground that such application was filed at the belated stage. This order was upheld by the District Court as well as the High Court.

Agreeing with the views of the High Court and the court below, the Supreme court bench comprising Justices Ashok Bhushan, R. Subhash Reddy and MR Shah observed:

"It is fairly well settled that in absence of pleading, any amount of evidence will not help the party. When the adoption ceremony, which had taken place on 14.11.2001, is mentioned in the registered adoption deed, which was questioned in the suit, there is absolutely no reason for not raising specific plea in the suit and to file application at belated stage to summon the record to prove that the second respondent- Ramesh Chander Singh was on duty as on 14.11.2001. "

Observing thus, the bench dismissed the appeal.

Case: Biraji @ Brijraji vs. Surya Pratap [ C.A.Nos.4883-4884 of 2017 ]

Coram:Justices Ashok Bhushan, R. Subhash Reddy and MR Shah 

Counsel: Adv S.D. Singh, Adv Santosh Kumar Tripathi

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