First, for the institution of a suit a ‘plaint’ must be prepared, we can also see this need for filing a plaint in Section 26(1) of the Civil Procedure Code, 1908 (“CPC”) which stipulates that every suit shall be instituted by the presentation of a plaint or in such other manner as may be prescribed.
In simple words, a plaint is the written complaint or allegation. One who files it is known as "Plaintiff" and against whom it is filed is known as "Defendant". It contains Name of the Court, Nature of Complaint, Names and Address of parties to be suit, it also contain verification from plaintiff, stating that, contents of the plaint are true and correct. Which is shown an affidavit in the plaint shared below.
There are four main elements to be present before a suit can be instituted. These are:-
i. Opposing parties, i.e., parties to the suit;
ii. Subject-matter in dispute;
iii. Cause of action; and
iv. Relief
Now onto the required particulars needed in a plaint. If a plaint does not contain the required particulars it will be return to you as rejected. Order VII is related to the format of Plaint. According to Rule I the particulars to be contained in a plaint are:
a) the name of the Court in which the suit is brought;
b) the name, description and place of residence of the plaintiff;
c) the name, description and place of residence of the defendant, so far as they can be ascertained;
d) where the plaintiff or the defendant is a minor or a person of unsound mind, a statement to that effect;
e) the facts constituting the cause of action and when it arose;
f) the facts showing that the Court has jurisdiction;
g) the relief which the plaintiff claims;
h) where the plaintiff has allowed a set-off or relinquished a portion of his claim, the amount so allowed or relinquished; and
i) a statement of value of the subject matter of the suit for the purposes of jurisdiction and of court-fees, so far as the case admits.
You can download a sample of a plaint to see the contents of it. Link to a sample plaint- https://drive.google.com/file/d/1KwDpJQPrGyBzJWo99jMbTNUWPPk0ffzZ/view
Now the plaint must also contain a ‘Vakalatnama’ as per Order III Rule IV. Simply put a Vakalatnama is a written document, by which the person/party filing the case authorises the Advocate/Lawyer to represent on their behalf. However a person/party filing a case, May also represent their own case personally in any court and in this case he do not need Vakalatnama. The Vakalatnama generally contains:-
- It must contain the following particulars The client will not hold the Advocate responsible for any decision
- The client will bear all the costs and/expenses incurred during the proceedings
- The advocate will have right to retain the documents, unless complete fees are paid
- The client is free to disengage the Advocate at any stage of the Proceedings
- The Advocate shall have all the right to take decisions on his own in the court of Law, during the hearing, to the best interest of client and the concerned parties shall sign on the Vakalatnama. A sample of Vakalatnama is given in this link :- http://www.indialegalhelp.com/files/vakalatnama.pdf
Filing of plaint is traditionally done before Chief Ministerial Officer (Sherestedar)–paying appropriate court fee & process fees, different amount of court fees is paid for different type of documents. This is followed in some places, in some other places there is a filing counter which is specifically made to check the validity of a plaint, ie. whether a plaint is valid prima facie to be admitted in the court on a documentary level.
Plaint should also have the requisite court fees attached to it. Court fees are some nominal percentage of the value of the claim or value of the suit. The requisite amount of Court and stamp fees is different for every suit, and is mentioned in the "Court Fees Stamp Act."
Where to file the case:
Before filing a suit one should know where or before which Court the suit has to be filed. It is called place of suing. Place of suing is subjected to two limitations:
(1) territorial jurisdiction of the Court; and
(2) pecuniary jurisdiction of the Court, Territorial jurisdiction depends upon the nature of the suit, i.e. subject matter of the dispute. Depending upon the nature of subject matter, suits are divided into 3 categories. They are-
1. Suits relating to immovable property.
2. Suits relating to compensation for wrongs to person and movables.
3. Other suits.
Section 16 of the Civil Procedure Code on the same provides that:
"Suits to be instituted where subject matter situate: Subject to the pecuniary and other limitations prescribed by any law, suits-
(a) for the recovery of immovable property with or without rent or profits.
(b) for the partition of immovable property.
(c) for the foreclosure, sale or redemption in the case of a mortgage of or charge upon immovable property.
(d) for the determination of any other right to or interest in immovable property.
(e) for compensation for wrong to immovable property.
(f) for the recovery of immovable property actually under distraint or attachment,
shall be instituted in the Court within the local limits of whose jurisdiction the property is situate:
Provided that a suit to obtain relief respecting, or compensation for wrong to, immovable property held by or on behalf of the defendant may, where the relief sought can be entirely obtained through his personal obedience, be instituted either in the Court within the local limits of whose jurisdiction the property is situate, or in the Court within the local limits of whose jurisdiction the defendant actually and voluntarily resides, or carries on business, or personally works for gain."
Here it should be noted that the pecuniary jurisdiction of Courts differ from State to State.
In case of Suits relating to immovable property:- As a general rule suits relating to immovable property shall be filed in the Court within the local limits of whose territorial jurisdiction the property is situate, In other words, where the property in dispute is situated.
How Proceedings are conducted - On the first day of hearing, if the court thinks there are merits in the case, it will issue notice to the opposite party, to submit their arguments, and fix a date. When the notice is issued to the opposite party, the plaintiff is needed to do the following:
- File requisite amount of procedure - fee in the court.
- File 2 copies of plaint for each defendant in the court.
- Of, the 2 copies for each defendant, one shall be sent by Register/post/courier, and one by Ordinary post.
- Such filing should be done within 7 days, from date of order/notice.
Other rules regarding the contents of a plaint: (All rules are from Order 7)
- In money suits the pliant shall state the precise amount of amount claimed (Rule 2).
It is very important to know ground for rejection of a plaint. Therefore, the simple grounds for rejection of a plaint are :_
Rejection of Plaint:
According to Rule 11 the plaint shall be rejected in the following cases:—
a) where it does not disclose a cause of action;
b) where the relief claimed is undervalued, and the plaintiff, on being required by the court to correct the valuation within a time to be fixed by the court, fails to do so;
c) where the relief claimed is properly valued, but the plaint is written upon paper insufficiently stamped, and the plaintiff, on being required by the court to supply the requisite stamp paper within a time to be fixed by the Court, fails to do so;
d) where the suit appears from the statement in the plaint to be barred by any law;
e) where it is not filed in duplicate;
f) where the plaintiff fails to comply with the provision of Rule 9.
