Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 | Order XIX
Order XIX CPC Rules 1-3: Affidavits, Evidence and Cross-Examination
Order XIX of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 deals with proof by affidavit, the Court's power to require a deponent to attend for cross-examination, and the matters to which affidavits must ordinarily be confined.
Rule 1, Order XIX CPC: Power to order any point to be proved by affidavit
Any Court may at any time for sufficient reason order that any particular fact or facts may be proved by affidavit, or that the affidavit of any witness may be read at the hearing, on such conditions as the Court thinks reasonable:
Provided that where it appears to the Court that either party bona fide desires the production of a witness for cross-examination, and that such witness can be produced, an order shall not be made authorising the evidence of such witness to be given by affidavit.
Rule 2, Order XIX CPC: Power to order attendance of deponent for cross-examination
(1) Upon any application evidence may be given by affidavit, but the Court may, at the instance of either party, order the attendance for cross-examination of the deponent.
(2) Such attendance shall be in Court, unless the deponent is exempted from personal appearance in Court or the Court otherwise directs.
Rule 3, Order XIX CPC: Matters to which affidavits shall be confined
(1) Affidavits shall be confined to such facts as the deponent is able of his own knowledge to prove, except on interlocutory applications, on which statements of his belief may be admitted, provided that the grounds thereof are stated.
(2) The costs of every affidavit which shall unnecessarily set forth matters of hearsay or argumentative matter, or copies of or extracts from documents, shall, unless the Court otherwise directs, be paid by the party filing the same.
Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh: Additional Order XIX Rules 4-6
The official India Code text records territorial adaptations for the Union Territories of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh inserting additional Rules 4, 5 and 6 after Rule 3.
Rule 4 - Court may control evidence
(1) The Court may, by directions, regulate the evidence as to issues on which it requires evidence and the manner in which such evidence may be placed before the Court.
(2) The Court may, in its discretion and for reasons to be recorded in writing, exclude evidence that would otherwise be produced by the parties.
Rule 5 - Redacting or rejecting evidence
A Court may, in its discretion, for reasons to be recorded in writing-
(i) redact or order the redaction of such portions of the affidavit of examination-in-chief as do not, in its view, constitute evidence; or
(ii) return or reject an affidavit of examination-in-chief as not constituting admissible evidence.
Rule 6 - Format and guidelines of affidavit of evidence
An affidavit must comply with the applicable form and requirements, including the following:
(a) it should be confined to and follow the chronological sequence of dates and events relevant to proving the facts or matters dealt with;
(b) where an affidavit merely reproduces pleadings or contains legal grounds, the Court may strike out the affidavit or such parts as it considers fit;
(c) each paragraph should, as far as possible, be confined to a distinct portion of the subject;
(d) it should identify statements made from the deponent's own knowledge and matters of information or belief, and state the source of information or belief;
(e) pages should be numbered consecutively, paragraphs numbered, numbers and dates expressed in figures, and relied-upon annexures identified with page numbers.
Commercial disputes: Special affidavit provisions
The CPC as amended for commercial disputes of a specified value contains special procedural modifications under the Commercial Courts Act, 2015. Where such provisions apply, affidavit evidence may be subject to enhanced case-management, admissibility and formatting requirements. These commercial-court modifications operate in their statutory field and should not be read as replacing the general Order XIX Rules 1-3 for every civil suit.