Smt Munithayamma v. Sri Anjaneya
Case brief
What is this about?
Section 73 Evidence Act scope and interpretation; direction to person present in court to write words or figures for comparison; taking down specimen writing at a party's instance impermissible; standard writing versus disputed writing; I.A. under S.73 Evidence Act r/w S.151 CPC dismissed; Article 227 writ of certiorari (GM-CPC); specific performance suit O.S.No.337/2009, agreement dated 10.11.2006, Sy. No. 23/2A Menasi village, Doddaballapur; interest calculation document confronted in cross-examination; precedents: AIR 1958 Bombay 207 (State vs Poonam Chand Gupta), AIR 1958 Calcutta 128 (Hiralal Agarwal V/s. the State), 1975 Gujarath 95 (Babubhai Mulchanddas Kapadia V/s. Ishwarlal Devchand Kabrawala); writ petition dismissed; impugned order confirmed; trial court directed to dispose of suit within six months.
What did the court decide?
On a plain reading, Section 73 of the Evidence Act limits the court's power to directing a person present in court to write words or figures only where the court itself deems it necessary for its own purpose of comparing them with words or figures alleged to have been written by that person; the section does not empower the court to direct a witness or party to take such writing for the purpose of a party's evidence or its own case, or for use as standard writing for comparison with the disputed writing.