Smt. Savithramma v. Cecil Naronha & Anr.

SINGH, J. The complainant has by means of this petition claimed relief for taking action for contempt against the accused for their !ailure to comply with the orders of this Court dated 14.7.1986 made in Civil Appeal No. 2277 of 1986 and to punish the accused who include the Secretary and Commissioner, Government of Karnataka, Revenue Department and Tehsildar, Land Reforms, Koppa, Chick­ magalur District, Karnataka. DuriJ.lg the hearing we noticed that the affidavit filed by the complainant as well as the. affidavit filed in reply to the cont,empt D petition both were not in accordance with the provisions of the Supreme Court Rules or Order 19 Rule 3 of Code of Civil Procedure. Smt.1Savithramma1 the complainant, has filed affidavit in support'ofthe contempt petition. In paragraph 2 of her affidavit she stated that the statements contained in the contempt petition were true to the be.st of her knowledge, belief and information. In paragraph 3 she has further E stated that the affidavit had been read over, translated arid explained to her and she understood the contents thereof and has further stated that"" the same were true to her knowledge. The affidavit is clearly vague and general and it does not comply with the req1Hrement of a valid affidavit as laid down in Order XlRµ]es 5 and 13 ofthe_Supreme Court Rules. The affidavit is defective as it does not indicate as to what F facts were true to her personal knowledge, information and.belief. Order XI Rule 2 of the Supreme Court Rules lays down that evidence j.n support of an application may be given by affidavit in th~ Supr~!Jle Court. Rule 5 provides that affidavit shall be confined to such facts as the deponent is able of his own knowledge to prove;except on inter­ locutory applications, on which statements of his belief may be admit- .G ted, provided that the grounds thereof are stated. Rule 13 provides tpat in 'the verification of petitions, pleadings or other prciceedmgs, statements b-ased on personal knowledge snail be· distinguished from statements based on information and belief. In the case ·of statements based on information the deponent shall disclose the source of his \!>formation. Similar provisions ~re contained in Order 19 Rule.3 of H 564 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [198S] Supp. 2 S.C.R. A the Code of Civil Procedure. Affidavit is a mode of placing evidence before the Court. A party may prove a fact or facts by means of affidavit before this Court but such affidavit should be in accordance with Order XI Rules 5 and 13 of the Supreme Court Rules. The purpose underlying Rules 5 and 13 of Order XI of the Supreme Court Rules is to enable the Court to find out as to whether it would be safe B to act on such evidence and to enable the court to know as to what facts are based in the affidavit on the basis of personal knowledge, information and belief as this is relevant for the p11rpose of appreciat­ ing the evidence placed before the Court, in the form of affidavit. The importance of verification has to be judged by the purpose for which it is required. It is only on the basis or verification, it is possible to decide CC the genuineness and authenticity of the allegations and the deponent can be held responsible for the allegations made in the affidavit. In this Court evidence in support of the statements contained in writ peti­ tions, special leave petitions, applications and other miscellaneous matters, is accepted in the form of affidavit filed by the.parties con­ cerned. It is therefore necessary that the party stating facts must dis- Jj) close as to what facts are true to his personal knowledge, information or belief. If the statement of fact is based on information the source of information must be disclosed in the affidavit. An affidavit which does not comply ·with the provisions of Order XI of the Supreme Court Rules, has no probative value and it is liable to be rejected. In a matter where allegations of ma/a fides or disobedience of the Court's order e are made against a person or party it is all the more necessary that the person filing affidavit in this regard must take care to verify the facts stated in the affidavit strictly in accordance with the Rules 5 and 13 of Order XI of the Supreme Court Rules. We are constrained to observe that of late affidavit are being f filed in this Court in a slipshod manner without having any regard to the Rules. Affidavits are being filed by persons who could have no personal knowledge about the facts stated in the affidavit. Deponents of affidavit• pay no attention to verification, although this court laicj stress on this aspect as early as 1952. In State of Bombay v. Purushot­ tam Jog Naik, [1952] SCR 674, a Constitution Bench considering the di importance of verification of an·affidavit observed: "We wish, however, to observe that the verification of the affidavits produced here is defective. The body of the affidavit discloses that certain matters were known to the Secretary who. m.ade the affidavit personally. The verifica­ tion however states that everything was true to the best of SMf. SAVITHRAMMA-v, C, /'IARONHA (SINGH, J.] 565 his information and b¢\ief. ·we point this out .as slipshod A verifisatiens ef this·type might well in a given case lead to a rejection of the affidavit. Verifications should invariably be modelled on the lines of Order XIX, Rule 3, of the Civil Procedure Code, whether the Code applies in terms or not. And when the matter deposed to is not based on personal B knowledge the sources of information should be clearly disclosed." In the instant case verification of the complai.nant's affidavit is defective and it would not be safe to proceed pn the allegations mentioned in the contempt petition. The matter does nqt rest here. The affidavit filed on behalf of the accused in reply to the contempt petition is shocking. The Office clerk of the advocate for the accused has filed affidavit on behalf of the accused in reply tot~ contempt petition. The deponent of the counter affidavit has verified the affidavit saying that the statement of the case of'the accused are true and correct which are based on the records maintained in the office of the advoc.ate·and based on the instructions received from the clients. Such an affidavit is wholly improper and inadm.issibie in evidence and liable to be rejected. What reliance can be placed on an affidavit filed by a person sitting at Delhi and that too a clerk of an advocate practising at Delhi giving reply to the allegations and facts and circumstances existing at Karnataka on the basis of records maintained in advocate's office at Delhi. The practice of clerks of advocates filing affidavits without a proper verification shoull.be deprecated. As matters before the apex court are determined.on the basis of the statements contained in affidavits it is the duty of· the litigants and the lawyers to file affidavits in accordance with tile rules to assist the Court in administering justice. Since the affidavit filed in Support of the contempt petition as well as the affidavit in reply to the petition do not comply with Rules, no reliance can be placed on them and both are liable to be rejected. We accordingly reject the same and the contempt petition is liable to be dismissed on this ground alone. But we give a chance to the parties to tile proper affidavits within six weeks. List trereafter. N.P.v.