Explain the object and scope of Order XXII.

Question: Explain the object and scope of Order XXII.

Find the answer to the mains question only on Legal Bites. [Explain the object and scope of Order XXII.]

Answer

The stages in a civil suit should ideally proceed smoothly from the institution of a suit to the delivery of the judgment and decree by courts. The longer periods for case disposal and the relatively large number of parties to suits, mean that there would be ample opportunity for deaths, marriage and even insolvency of such parties to occur between the institutions of suits to their final disposal.

Order XXII of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 (referred as CPC) sets out the appropriate procedures required where there is death, marriage and insolvency of parties (in case of both plaintiffs and defendants). It also affords clarity to the question of the appropriate response to any changes brought about by the occurrence of such contingent events during the pendency of a suit. The abatement of a suit in civil procedure refers to when a civil suit becomes redundant due to any person ceasing to exist as a party. Abatement applies in the case of both the plaintiff and the defendant.

A careful reading of the provisions contained in Order XXII of CPC as well as the subsequent amendments thereto would lend credit and support to the view that they were devised to ensure their continuation and culmination into an effective adjudication and not to retard the further progress of the proceedings and thereby non-suit the others similarly placed as long as their distinct and independent rights to property or any claim remain intact and not lost forever due to the death of one or the other in the proceedings.

The provisions contained in Order XXII are not to be construed as a rigid matter of principle but must ever be viewed as a flexible tool of convenience in the administration of justice.

As held by the Hon’ble Supreme Court in the case of Sardar Amarjit Singh Kalra & Ors. v. Pramod Gupta & Ors. [AIR 2003 SC 2588] the object of the provisions provided in Order XXII was crafted to “…ensure continuation …of suits into an effective adjudication” and not to hinder the progress of the proceedings. In the view of the apex Court of India, “…distinctive and independent rights to property or any claim remain intact and not lost forever due to death of one or the other, in the proceedings.”

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