How To File A Civil Case In India

What is a Civil Case in India

A civil case is a conflict between people or institution typically on financial matters. The case begins when a person or an institution is being harmed by the other person or institution and asks the court to settle the matter by filing a complaint.

The complainant might seek to award monetary awards to compensate for the damages or even might request for an order to prevent the defendant from taking a wrongful action against the defendant, or might seek for declaratory judgment in which the court will define rights under a contract.

Types of Civil Cases in India

Before filing your case it is important that you recognize what kind of case you will be involved in –
Tort Claims: A tort is a wrongful action that might have resulted in injury to a person, property, or reputation for which the harmed person is entitled to compensation. Personal injury, medical malpractice, fraud, defamation, negligence, and many others are an example of tort cases.
Contract Breach: Contract breach results in a person’s failure to perform a certain set of actions claimed in a contract, whether the contract is written or oral, without any legitimate excuse. Not completing a job, failing to deliver goods or promise, not being able to pay the entire amount or on time, are all examples of Contract breach cases.
Equitable claim: Equitable claims are orders by the court to take some actions or stop some actions. This may or may not be joined with monetary compensation. Getting temporary restraining order or an injunction to stop something like Destruction of property, solicitation of business, improper transfer of land, can involve an equitable claim.
Landlord and tenant issues: Civil courts handle dispute cases between landlord and tenants. These involve cases like the landlord are trying to evict their tenant from a rental property or a tenant has moved out and is suing the landlord for the return of security deposits.

For more details on landlord and tenant agreement, you can read our blog A RENT AGREEMENT BY VIEW OF LANDLORD

Stages of a Civil Case in India 

• Pre-filing:  during the pre-filing, the parties make demands and try to negotiate a solution and prepare themselves for the possibility of a court action.
• Pleading: In this case, one part files papers to start the court’s proceedings and the other party submits some kind of response.

• Discovery: during this stage, both the parties exchange information and learn about the strengths and weaknesses of each other.

• Pre-trial: At this point, the parties start preparing for the trial; they get their documents, evidence, and witnesses in order and might engage in some type of settlement meeting and may file a motion with the court to resolve the case.

• Trial: during the trial, the case is actually heard by the judge, are examined, and the evidence is presented, and the case is entered in the judgment phase.

• Post-trial: Post-trial one or both the parties might appeal to the judge that it was entered at the trial or the winning party is trying to collect the judgment that was taken.

Procedure For Filing A Civil Case In India 

The procedure includes these steps –

1. Filing Of Suit
2. Vakalatnama
3. Court Fees
4. How Proceedings Are Conducted
5. Written Statement
6. Replication By Plaintiff
7. Filing Of Other Documents
8. Framing Of Issues/List Of Witness
9. Final Hearing

Filing the Civil Law Suit in India 

The civil case starts with filing a complaint in the court. The complaint includes –

• Name of the Court
• Names and Addresses of the parties between whom the dispute was initiated.
• Subject – A statement describing the sections and orders under which the jurisdiction of the court is evoked.
• Main Content made by the plaintiff
• Verification from the plaintiff stating that the contents of the plaint are true and correct.

A plaintiff is a person who files a complaint and the party against whom the complaint is filed is the defendant.

Vakalatnama

Vakalatnama is a document that is filed by the case authorities who are representing the plaintiff. This is submitted by the advocates as the report consist of technical terms, procedures that are not commonly known.

A Vakalatnama has the following information –

1. The client cannot hold lawyer responsible for the decision.
2. The client has to bear all the expenses and costs during the proceedings
3. The advocate has the right to retain all the documents unless the complete fee has been paid.
4. The client has the right to disengage the advocate who has been appointed, at any stage of the proceeding
5. The advocate has all the rights to take the decision on his own during the hearing in the court.

Court Fees

Court fees are of nominal percentage and are mentioned in the Court Fee Stamp Act.

• Written statement costing Rs. 10 if the value of the case exceeds Rs. 5,000/- upto 10,000/-
• Plaint if filed in a suit for possession – Rs. 5
• Decree or order copy is 50 paise

Court fees according to the value of the case 

If the value of the suit exceeds

• Rs. 1,50,000-1,55,000 – Rs. 1700/-
• Rs. 3,00,000-3,05,000 – Rs. 2450/-
• Rs. 4,00,000-4,05,000 – Rs. 2950/-

Proceedings 

Hearing – During the hearing if the court finds merits then it can issue a notice to the opposite party. After the notice, the complainant is required to complete these steps –

• Required to submit an amount of procedure-fee in the court.
• Submit 2 copies of complaint for each defendant in the court
• Out of 2 copies filed for each defendant, one should be sent by Speed post/Courier/Regd. A.D. and the other copy should be sent by Ordinary Post.
• Filing should be done within a period of 7 days from the date of order/notice.

Statement Written by Defendant 

• The defendant is required to appear on the date mentioned in the notice. However, before appearing in the court he needs to present a written statement in his defense
• The written statement must be filed within 30 days from the date of service of notice
• The maximum period for filing the written statement is 90 days.
• The written statement should deny the allegations that the defendant is accused of. Any allegation that is not specifically denied, is considered to be accepted.
• The written statement should specify that the details present on the statement are true and correct.

Replication By Complainant

Once the Written Statement is filed by the Defendant, a replication is sent by the plaintiff. The statement is a reply to the defendants document.

Documents 

• Documents filed by one party is admitted by the defendant party.
• Documents submitted are denied by the opposing party. In that case, the witness can admit to the produced documents by the party whose documents are denied.
• After the documents are submitted, all the details of the suit shall be written on the document according to Order 13 Rule 49 of the Code of Civil Procedure.
• It is necessary that any record which is filed by the parties must be original and a copy of the record must be provided to the defendant party.
• Any document which is not filed cannot be relied on during final arguments.

Framing of Issues 

• Issues are framed by the court according to the arguments and examination were done.
• The parties are not allowed to go outside the range of ‘Issues”.
• Issues framed can be of Fact or Law.
• The final order, the court will deal with each issue separately and will pass judgment on each issue.

Witness

• Witnesses must be presented before the court 15 days prior from the date on which issues are framed.
• Parties can call the witness by themselves or call them by sending summons.
• In the case of summons are issued, the party who calls them have to submit money for the expenses.

Final Hearing 

• During the final hearing, the arguments that take place must be strictly confined to the issues.
• After hearing to both parties, the court shall pass the final judgment, either on the same day or give a date.
• But, before the judgment, the parties can amend their pleadings with permission of the court.

If you are still not clear about certain terms in civil cases, you can read our blog CIVIL CASE IN CHANDIGARH

In case, you are dealing with some kind of civil issues or want to file a complaint against someone, AdvocateinChandigarh (AIC) is here to file, document, and advise you on the matter. We are specialists in when it comes to Civil cases and are renowned for our work ethics when it comes to fighting for a civil case in Chandigarh. You can directly call us on our number +91-9914328749 or mail your query at advhighcourt14@gmail.com, and we will get back to you with a viable solution. Do not worry, when you come to AIC with your legal issues, consider those sorted for life.