CPC - Service of Writ of Summons.

if notice is issued then certainly the service of notice on defendant is mandatory.

but if, as u said, the defendant appears at the interim stage or on the day of preliminary hearing of the matter and makes his relevant submissions, and the court recognise his presence then the service will be made in the court itself....service of summons is basically meant to apprise the defendant that a particular case has been filed agains thim and the copy of the suit alongwith the copies of the documents in support are also attached....but when the defendant himself apprears at the preliminary stage itself then the court will allow the service to be done in the court itself....in that case no formal service of summons will be required.

If the defendant appears at the interim stage, the plaintiff seeks to get the service of summons waived by the Defendant, by th Defendant making a statement to that effect across the bar which is recorded by the Court, in which case summons need not be served.  However if the Defendant does not waive service of summons, the summons have to be served.

i would like to add more clarity to my ld brother  Anil by saying that even if the defendant appears in person or counsel at pre summon service stage they need to be informed of what the case is, thus we have to furnish copy of the bill of complaint and list of documents relied that would suffice for the court to dispense with serivce of summons by other means by recording the appearnce,. But in such a case the defendant can not insist on adjounrnment till service of summons and go exparte and file set aside etc. etc.

thanks to kiran kumar. plus section 27 Order 5 Rule 1.

It is obligatory for the petitioner to deliver a copy of the writ petition to the defendent/resopdent, right in the court and get the same recorded in the daily order sheet of the court. Once recorded by the court itself;that becomes a pucca proof of the receipt of the plaint/writ pettiion by the defendent/respondent.

The service can also be taken aas complete,if the advocate appearing on behalf of the defendent/respondent is delivered the copy of the writ petition with summons,provided the advocate has entered his appearnace in the court/filed his Power of Attorney [vakalatnama] in the court.The delivery of documents to the agent is as good as delivery of the same to the respondent/mater.

Orde 5 Rules 01 to 30 of the code of Civil Procedure [Act No.5 of 1908]deals with various other provisons of service of various court documents and the same have to be follwed not only in letter but also in spirit.