Stages in civil suits from plaint to decree

Filing of Plaint by Plaintiff along with Vakalatnama and

The aggrieved party after drafting the plaint in the requisite format can file the same
with additional documents and requisite Court fee to the Registrar of the Court. On
review, the registrar can either admit the plaint and place it before a judge or send it
back to be revised due to preliminary objections.

Plaint, if admitted, Notice is issued

On the first day of the hearing, if the court thinks there are merits in the case, it will
admit your case and issue a notice to the opposite party, to submit their reply and will fix
a date for hearing. The procedure of service upon the opposite party could be different as
per the rules formulated by the different High Courts.

As per Supreme Court of India's practice guidelines, notice has to be served to the other
party or parties of all grounds in support of or in opposition to the motion. If there is a
delay in the process of serving the notice to the opposite party which entails hardship on
the applicant, the court may grant an ex-parte order.

The notice of motion along with the affidavit has to be served on the opposite party in not
less than 7 days before the day appointed for the motion in cases where the opposite
party has entered an appearance. In case the opposite party has not entered an
appearance, the notice has to be served in not less than 14 days before the day
appointed for the motion.

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Written statement is filed

After the notice is issued to the respondent, he is required to appear before the court of
law on the date specified on the notice. Before appearing before the court, the
respondent needs to record his written statement within 30 days of issuance of notice or
such time given by the court. A written statement, similar to a plaint is a counter to the
claim raised by the plaintiff.

The written statement should contain the following:

● Denial of the allegations, which the defendant thinks are false. Any allegations not
specifically denied is deemed to be admitted
● Verification from the defendant stating that the contents of written statement is
true and correct.

The written statement must be filed within 30 days, this can be extended after seeking
the permission of the court to 90 days.

Replication by Plaintiff

Replication is a reply given by the plaintiff to the claims/denials made by the defendant
in the written statement. It should also specifically deny the allegations made by the
defendant, if not, will be deemed to be accepted. Once this stage is done, the pleadings
are said to be complete.

Filing of other documents

Both parties are given an opportunity to produce and file documents to substantiate their
claims. Parties may either admit or deny either party’s documents. Once the document is
admitted, it shall form the record of the court. It is necessary that document should be
filed in "original", and a spare copy should be given to the opposite party.

Framing of issues

The issues are framed by the Court after going through the plaint/written statement and
other documents filed by both parties. These ‘issues’ are points of contention or dispute
in the case. Issues can be of two kinds - point of fact or point of law. The issues will form
the basis of the further trial.

Arguments

The arguments argued by either parties will be restricted to the issues framed.

Decree, Judgement and order

A Court may pass an adjudication relating to certain matters in a suit or all the matters
in the suit. There are basically three types of decrees

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 1. Preliminary decree
2. Final decree
3. Party preliminary and partly final.

1. Preliminary decree

When a court's adjudication decides the rights of the parties with regard to all or
any of the matters in controversy in the suit, but does not completely dispose of
the suit, it is a preliminary decree. A preliminary decree is passed in those cases in
which the Court has first to adjudicate upon the rights of the parties and has then
to remain inactive until it is in a position to pass a final decree, In case of an appeal
against a preliminary decree the final decree automatically falls for there is no
preliminary decree thereafter in support of it.

2. Final decree

A decree may be said to be final in two ways-when there has been no appeal filed
against the decree or when the matter has been decided by the highest Court, or
when the Court passing it completely disposes of the suit. A final decree is one
which completely disposes of the suit and finally settles all the questions in
controversy between the parties and nothing further remains to be decided
thereafter, Ordinarily there will be only one final decree in the suit. However, where
two or more causes of action are joined together there can be more than one final
decree.

3. Partly preliminary and partly final

A decree may be partly preliminary and partly final and this may be explained by
way of example.

E.g. 1: Here, two brothers argue over who inherits the family property from their
late father. This property is currently leased out to family. While the determination
of who gets the property is the subject of the final decrees, the determination of
who gets the profits that accrue from the lease rent being paid during the length of
the trial, is a matter of partly - preliminary and partly-final decree.

Ex-parte Decree: An ex parte decree is a decree passed in the absence of the

Remedies in case of ex parte: The procedure prescribed for an exparte decree goes
against the principle of granting everyone a fair hearing. Thus, there are many provisions
for the defendant to apply for setting aside the exparte decree.

He can apply under Order 9, Rule 13 by proving that he could not attend court due to
either of the following grounds

1) the summons was not served properly, or that

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 called for hearing.

In a suit where the decree was passed against two defendants, but only one had
received the summons and was present in Court, the Court set aside the decree of the
party who was not present. It was held that the decree was still valid against the
attending party.

Judgment

Judgment means the statement given by the Judge on the grounds of a decree or order,
The essential element of a judgment is that there should be a statement of the grounds
of the decision. Every judgment must contain

i) A concise statement of the case

A judgment can be distinguished from a decree in the sense that a judgment means the
statement given by the Judge of the grounds of a decree or order. A judgment
contemplates a state prior to the passing of a decree or an order, and after the
pronouncement of a judgment a decree shall follow.

Order

An order means 'the formal expression of any decision of a civil court which is not a
decree'. A judicial order must contain the discussion of the question at issue and the
reasons which prevailed with the Court to pass the order. The distinction may be drawn
between a decree and order on the following grounds

1. A decree can only be passed in the suit which commenced by the presentation of
a plaint. An order masyariss from a petition or application.

2. A decree conclusively determines the rights of the parties however an order may
not finally determine such rights

3. There cannot be a preliminary order

4. In certain suit is one preliminary decree and the other final decree may be
passed, however a number of orders may be passed in the same suit.

5. Every decree is appealable but every order is not unless specified.

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