Civil Revision No. 7607 of 2011 --1-- IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB & HARYANA, CHANDIGARH Civil Revision No. 7607 of 2011 Date of decision. 09.12.2011 Ram Singh and another .... Petitioners Versus Smt. Chandni and others ...... Respondents CORAM: HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE VIJENDER SINGH MALIK Present: Mr. Virender Singh Punia, Advocate with Mr. Vikrant Rana, Advocate, for the petitioners. **** Vijender Singh Malik, J. CM No.29283-CII of 2011 The application praying for exemption from filing certified copy of annexure P-1 is allowed. CR No. 7607 of 2011 This is a revision petition brought by plaintiffs Ram Singh and Rajender under the provisions of Article 227 of the Constitution of India praying for setting aside the order dated 23.08.2011(Annexure P-1) passed by learned Civil Judge (Senior Division), Bhiwani, vide which their evidence has been closed by order of the court. The suit of the plaintiffs-petitioners is for permanent injunction restraining the defendants from interfering in their house detailed in head note of the plaint situated within the lal dora of village Bhakra Tehsil, District Bhiwani. The suit was pending for 23.08.2011 Civil Revision No. 7607 of 2011 --2-- for evidence of the plaintiffs and learned trial court passed the following order: “Present:- Sh. Surat Singh,Adv. for the plaintiffs. Sh.Ranvijay Singh,Adv.for the defendants. No PW is present despite last opportunity. Therefore evidence of plaintiff is closed by order of court. Now for evidence of defendants at own responsibility to come up on 3.11.2011.” I have heard Mr.Virender Singh Punia, learned counsel for the petitioners and have gone through the record carefully. Learned counsel for the petitioners has submitted that learned trial court had not been justified in closing the evidence of the plaintiffs. According to him, Chand Singh, Patwari, Ram Singh and Ramesh Kumar had been produced several times by the plaintiffs before learned trial court and their statements could not be recorded. According to him, the plaintiffs would be highly prejudiced if their statements were not recorded. He has further submitted that if the impugned order is not set aside, the plaintiffs would be thrown out of the court without any decision on merits of their claim. He has requested that only one opportunity be granted to the petitioners to produce their evidence at own responsibility. Learned trial court has adopted a mechanical approach to the issue of granting further adjournment or declining the same. Learned trial court has not even noticed if there was any request on the part of the Civil Revision No. 7607 of 2011 --3-- plaintiffs through their counsel for further opportunity and if there was any such request, what was the reason given for seeking adjournment and whether that reason was a good reason for adjournment or not. Apart from that a perusal of the record would show that the three witnesses namely Chand Singh, Patwari, Ram Singh and Ramesh Kumar had appeared before learned trial court on various dates and their evidence could not be recorded. The limit laid down to the number of opportunities to be granted to a party for its evidence has been with a view to speed up the disposal of the suits but not at the cost of justice. The rules in this regard are directory and not mandatory. The court has not to sacrifice the cause of justice in view of the rules of procedure set out in this regard. However, the fact that the plaintiffs have not been bringing their evidence on each date can also not been lost sight of. In these circumstances, to meet the ends of justice, the petitioners clearly appear to be entitled one clear and effective opportunity to lead their evidence at their responsibility with liberty to take summons dasti of the official witness namely Chand Singh, Patwari. For the aforesaid reasons, the revision petition is allowed subject to payment of Rs.2000/- as costs and setting aside the impugned order, learned trial court is directed to give one effective opportunity to the petitioners to lead their evidence with liberty to take dasti summons for Chand Singh, Patwari. 09.12.2011 ( Vijender Singh Malik ) dinesh Judge