Patna High Court: A Single Judge Bench comprising of Sanjay Kumar, J. while hearing an appeal against dismissal of application for setting aside decree of trial court in a title suit, ruled that consideration of a case and rendering of a decision must be based on appreciation of all the facts, materials and evidence on record.
Petitioner had filed a title suit against respondent for specific performance of the contract which was decreed ex-parte. Respondent’s application to set aside the said decree was dismissed in default. Thereafter, she filed a miscellaneous case for the restoration of her application on the ground that she could not appear before the trial court for several months on account of her illness. A medical certificate in support of her contention was annexed with her pleadings.
The petitioner contended that the parties were litigating in another case where the respondent was appearing continuously and as such her claim of illness was false and the medical certificate had been procured fraudulently from the doctor.
The High Court noted that the trial court had not considered the witness accounts and the documents filed by appellant and respondent and the case had been allowed without proper appreciation of materials on record. The only document considered by court was the medical certificate which showed that the respondent was suffering from jaundice. The trial court had neither discussed the oral evidence of parties nor the other relevant documents on record for deciding the issues involved in the matter.
In view of the above, the instant petition was allowed and trial court’s order dismissing respondent’s application was set aside. The matter was remitted to trial court for disposing of the application after due consideration of oral and documentary evidence adduced on behalf of both the parties. [Gopal Mahto v. Shyama Devi,2018 SCC OnLine Pat 1907, decided on 11-09-2018]