Order XXXIII CPC: Rules 7 to 12 - Procedure for Indigent Persons
Rules 7 to 12 of Order XXXIII of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 govern the procedure after an application to sue as an indigent person reaches the hearing stage. They deal with the hearing, admission of the application, withdrawal of permission, assignment of a pleader, court-fees where the plaintiff succeeds or fails, abatement and recovery by the State Government.
Rule 7 - Procedure at hearing
(1) On the day so fixed or as soon thereafter as may be convenient, the Court shall examine the witnesses, if any, produced by either party, and may examine the applicant or his agent, and shall make a full record of their evidence.
(1A) The examination of the witnesses under sub-rule (1) shall be confined to the matters specified in clauses (b), (c) and (e) of Rule 5, but the examination of the applicant or his agent may relate to any of the matters specified in Rule 5.
(2) The Court shall also hear any argument which the parties may desire to offer on the question whether, on the face of the application and of the evidence, if any, taken by the Court under Rule 6 or under this rule, the applicant is or is not subject to any of the prohibitions specified in Rule 5.
(3) The Court shall then either allow or refuse to allow the applicant to sue as an indigent person.
Rule 8 - Procedure if application admitted
Where the application is granted, it shall be numbered and registered, and shall be deemed the plaint in the suit, and the suit shall proceed in all other respects as a suit instituted in the ordinary manner, except that the plaintiff shall not be liable to pay any court-fee or fees payable for service of process in respect of any petition, appointment of a pleader or other proceeding connected with the suit.
Rule 9 - Withdrawal of permission to sue as an indigent person
The Court may, on the application of the defendant or of the Government pleader, of which seven days' clear notice in writing has been given to the plaintiff, order that the permission granted to the plaintiff to sue as an indigent person be withdrawn:
- (a)if he is guilty of vexatious or improper conduct in the course of the suit;
- (b)if it appears that his means are such that he ought not to continue to sue as an indigent person; or
- (c)if he has entered into any agreement with reference to the subject-matter of the suit under which any other person has obtained an interest in such subject-matter.
Rule 9A - Court to assign a pleader to an unrepresented indigent person
(1) Where a person, who is permitted to sue as an indigent person, is not represented by a pleader, the Court may, if the circumstances of the case so require, assign a pleader to him.
(2) The High Court may, with the previous approval of the State Government, make rules providing for:
- (a)the mode of selecting pleaders to be assigned under sub-rule (1);
- (b)the facilities to be provided to such pleaders by the Court; and
- (c)any other matter which is required to be or may be provided by the rules for giving effect to sub-rule (1).
Rule 10 - Costs where indigent person succeeds
Where the plaintiff succeeds in the suit, the Court shall calculate the amount of court-fees which would have been paid by the plaintiff if he had not been permitted to sue as an indigent person. Such amount shall be recoverable by the State Government from any party ordered by the decree to pay the same and shall be a first charge on the subject-matter of the suit.
Rule 11 - Procedure where indigent person fails
Where the plaintiff fails in the suit or the permission granted to him to sue as an indigent person has been withdrawn, or where the suit is withdrawn or dismissed:
- (a)because the summons for the defendant to appear and answer has not been served upon him in consequence of the failure of the plaintiff to pay the court-fee or postal charges, if any, chargeable for such service or to present copies of the plaint or concise statement; or
- (b)because the plaintiff does not appear when the suit is called on for hearing,
the Court shall order the plaintiff, or any person added as a co-plaintiff to the suit, to pay the court-fees which would have been paid by the plaintiff if he had not been permitted to sue as an indigent person.
Rule 11A - Procedure where indigent person's suit abates
Where the suit abates by reason of the death of the plaintiff or of any person added as a co-plaintiff, the Court shall order that the amount of court-fees which would have been paid by the plaintiff if he had not been permitted to sue as an indigent person shall be recoverable by the State Government from the estate of the deceased plaintiff.
Rule 12 - State Government may apply for payment of court-fees
The State Government shall have the right at any time to apply to the Court to make an order for the payment of court-fees under Rule 10, Rule 11 or Rule 11A.
Official text and related provisions
The authoritative central text, amendment footnotes and later provisions of Order XXXIII are available in the official India Code publication of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908.