Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 – Indian Evidence Act, 1872 – Provisions of the Code as also the Evidence Act do not differentiate between a party to the suit acting as a witness and a witness otherwise called by such a party to testify – the term witness does not exclude the party to the suit i.e., the Plaintiff or the Defendant, themselves appearing before the court to enter evidence. (Para 17,20)
Code of Civil Procedure, 1908; Order VII Rule 14; Order VIII Rule 1-A; Order XIII Rule 1 – Production of documents for both a party to the suit and a witness as the case may be, at the stage of cross-examination, is permissible within law – The freedom to produce documents for either of the two purposes i.e. cross examination of witnesses and/or refreshing the memory would serve its purposes for parties to the suit as well – Being precluded from effectively putting questions to and receiving answers from either party to a suit, with the aid of these documents will put the other at risk of not being able to put forth the complete veracity of their claim- thereby fatally compromising the said proceedings. (Para 26-32)
Pleadings – What is not pleaded cannot be argued, as for the purposes of adjudication, it is necessary for the other party to know the contours of the case it is required to meet -The requirement of having to plead a particular argument does not include exhaustively doing so. (Para 28)