Nitish Banka

    • Trick to demolish a Case

    Interrogatories-The domain left unknown

    After the filing of plaint and WS, the procedure of settlement of issues takes place. The material facts which are admitted by one party and denied by another party forms the material issues. Now on these material issues the evidence needs to be given by the parties. Now before proceeding to the evidence to be given by the parties, each party has a right to know other’s party case, so that no party is taken out by surprise. Now here is the place where order-11-12 of the CPC comes into play. Unfortunately this machinery which is the discovery and inspection of facts and documents are unknown at trial court level, but it’s a very useful tool that every practitioner should know and utilize it. As it is a very powerful tool which can either break the other party case or may strengthen one’s own case.

    The tool is called interrogatories which is used to facilitate discovery and inspection of facts and documents which forms material to the issues and which are to be disclosed in order to determine the material issues.

    Interrogatories are drafted in such a manner that it should be intended (a) to ascertain the nature of opponent’s case or the facts relied upon in support of his case as distinguished from evidence which party intends to adduce—The object being that his opponent may know what case he has to meet: b) to impeach or destroy opponent case; c) to obtain information and admission in support of his own case.

    The crux of filing interrogatories is to interrogate and dig into the opponent case to know his case better. Interrogatories are not the tool to obtain evidence or to obtain certain facts which are irrelevant to the case. The main idea of interrogatories are to determine the facts which the opponent has failed to disclose in his plaint or WS  also to know other party case in a better sense which would help to facilitate and prepare one’s own case.