( 1 ) IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE OF BOMBAY, BENCH AT AURANGABAD WRIT PETITION NO. 7040 OF 2006 Abdul Hakim s/o Abdul Razzak Died through his L.Rs. 1/1 Smt. Rabiyabi w/o Abdul Hakim Qureshi and others PETITIONERS VERSUS Abdul Rahim s/o Mohd. Kasim and others. RESPONDENTS ..... Smt. A.N. Ansari, advocate for the petitioners. ..... [CORAM : V.R. KINGAONKAR, J.] [DATE : 18th June, 2009] PER COURT : 1. By this petition, the legal representatives of original plaintiff, who is the original petitioner herein, impugn the order dated 5th February, 1999 rendered on application (Exh-27) to allow production of certain documents in appeal (R.C.A. No. 13/1992) pending on file of learned Additional District Judge, Hingoli. By the impugned order, the learned Additional District ( 2 ) Judge rejected the request of the appellant to produce the documents which are copies of public documents. 2. The deceased petitioner filed suit for declaration and possession in respect of agricultural land bearing Survey No. 44 situated at village Rahori (Bk.), Taluka Hingoli. He asserted that his father Abdul Razzak was owner of the suit land. He contended that he was in Government service at Partur, District Jalna and migrated to Hingoli in 1982 after retirement. The suit came to be dismissed. He preferred appeal bearing Regular Civil Appeal No. 13/1992 against the dismissal of the suit. He submitted an application (Exh-27) on 27th July, 1998 for allowing him to produce certain documents. He contended that he is old aged person and was unable to collect the documents because for a long term, he was in Government service at a distant place i.e. Partur. He further submitted that the copies of the public documents could be admitted in evidence. The learned Additional District Judge was pleased to reject his application and directed that the documents may be returned to the petitioner. ( 3 ) 3. Heard Smt. Ansari, learned advocate for the petitioners. None appears for the respondents. 4. The learned Additional District Judge did not consider as to whether the late production of the certified copies of the public documents could be permitted in view of Order-XLI Rule-27 of the Civil Procedure Code. He rejected the request only for the reason that the grounds stated in the application for late production were not satisfactory. The appellate Court has ample powers to allow production of the documents at the appellate stage where it would be in the interest of justice. The appellate Court itself may require such documents to be produced in order to enable itself to pronounce judgements or for any other substantial cause. The mere fact that production of the certified copies was late cannot be the ground to reject the request. The deceased petitioner submitted that when he collected the necessary information, then it was not within his knowledge that the documents were available. He searched for the documents in the office ( 4 ) of the District Superintendent of Land Records, Parbhani. The documents are copies of the old record. Considering the age of the deceased petitioner and the difficulties stated by him, the request ought to have been allowed in the interest of justice. The impugned order seems to be perverse. 5. In the result, the writ petition is allowed. The impugned order is quashed. The application (Exh-27) be deemed as allowed and the production of the copies/documents shall be permitted by the appellate Court. The appeal is old one and, therefore, it shall be expeditiously heard and decided without any more delay. [ V.R. KINGAONKAR ] JUDGE NPJ/WP7040-06