madhu mittal (director) 07 February 2014

Whether mandatory to be present in civil court by litigants

Whether it is not mandatory for objectioner/transferee of attached immovable property and decree holder in execution proceeding to be present on the hearing dates along with their lawyers (act,section or citation also required if possible)? Whether it is duty of litigant (if not required to be present in court) to go and get information from lawyer, what happened on the date of hearing or whether it is the duty of lawyer to apprise happening to his client (act,section or citation also required if possible)? If the objectioner/ transferee as well as his lawyer did not remain present on many dates and his application was dismissed in default, is he right in arguing that one more occasion of hearing of his objections should be given to him, and not punishing him for the fault of his lawyer in not attending court hearing by simpling replacing his old lawyer by new lawyer, specially after the stage of execution proceeding reached where the auction-sale was postponed due to non-appearance of any person for purchasing attached immovable property (act,section or citation also required if possible)?

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3 Replies

Suneet Gupta (www.vashiadvocates.com) 07 February 2014

All parties to the case need to be present in Court during court proceeding (either in person or through authorized representative), unless given exemption by the court. If your authorized representative (lawyer) is not present in court then it is your problem as the court is not responsible for the same.

Again, communications between your lawyer and you are not the court's concern and a party is supposed to know the status of the case and the hearing dates. If a party or his authorized representative is not present during a proceeding, the court can proceed ex parte and dismiss the suit / proceeding. You can proceed against the lawyer through consumer court for negligence but the court is right in dismissing the case / proceeding.

There is a time limit for reinstating a case if it was dismissed for default. Please contact your lawyer for exact Act and Section nos, and for the detailed procedures.

R.K Nanda (Advocate) 07 February 2014

NOT MANDATORY FOR LITIGANTS TO PRESENT IN THEIR CASES IF THEIR LAWYER IS APPEARING.

T. Kalaiselvan, Advocate (Advocate) 07 February 2014

It is not mandatory for the litigants to be present in the court during the proceedings in a civil litigation, their advocates representation will be sufficient.