CODE OF CIVIL PROCEDURE IN INDIA

This article will provide guidance on Code of Civil Procedure in India? A summons in India must be in writing, have the officer's seal (if applicable), and be signed by that officer or by another person specifically authorized in writing to act on their behalf. Any particular document, the production of which is required, shall be described in the summons with reasonable accuracy.

If a person is required to be served with a summons, it can be delivered by personally delivering it to that person. In all cases where the summons has been served, the serving officer should endorse or annex a return on the original summons stating the time when and the manner in which the summons was served, as well as the name and address of any person identifying the person served and witnessing the delivery or tender of the summons.

When working with a client in India, you need to make sure their paperwork is comprehensive and accurate so that the Central Authority can process it. Since so many incoming requests are processed daily, it is important to ensure the paperwork is complete and accurate. Service that holds up in court requires the correct completion of the paperwork from the get-go and the use of the appropriate manner of service (formal or informal). This is where hiring a private process service agency like Undisputed Legal can come in handy. We ensure that your papers align with domestic and international requirements.

BACKGROUND

The first intimation of a case against an individual comes through a formal written notice called a ‘summons.’ In both criminal and civil proceedings, a summons may be issued. A peace officer, an official of the court issuing the summons, or another public servant may serve any such document. If possible, the person being called should be served in person by having one of the copies of the summons delivered or tendered to them. Each recipient of a summons must acknowledge receipt by signing the other copy.

If the individuals named in the summons cannot be located, a copy may be placed with an adult family member who lives in the same household. That family member must sign the reverse of the duplicate to acknowledge receipt. When a court issues a witness a summons, it may also order a copy of the summons to be sent to the witness through registered mail. The issuing court may rule that service has been made if they receive an acknowledgment purporting to be signed by the witness or an endorsement from the postal worker stating that the witness declined to accept receipt of the summons.

When a defendant fails to appear in court after being served with legal process, the court may issue a warrant that is either bailable or non-bailable.

WHEN IS PERSONAL PRESENCE NOT REQUIRED

The Code of Civil Procedure has provisions for exemption from personal presence in certain circumstances. If a party needs to appear in court via a representative or advocate instead of themselves, they may do so under certain circumstances. It should be kept in mind that India provides specific means of acceptance of summons for different individuals. For example, women barred from appearing in public (for personal reasons or other reasons of law) have an exception under Section 132 of the CPC. However, exemptions from personal presence are almost nonexistent in criminal cases. It is important to entrust your papers to a reliable source aware of all the local and international service requirements like a private process service agency like Undisputed Legal.

Upon receipt of the document, the individual receiving the summons is obligated to acknowledge the service of process and sign the duplicate summons, if necessary. They are obligated to personally attend court on the day specified in the summons or retain legal counsel.

A person's attorney or legal representative may respond to a summons on their behalf. A person need not retain legal representation in order to respond to a summons to appear in court. A response to a summons may be filed with the appropriate court clerk by gathering the necessary paperwork and paying the associated cost.

INTERNATIONAL SERVICE OF A SUMMONS IN INDIA

On November 15, 1965, the Hague Service Convention on the Service Abroad of Judicial and Extrajudicial Documents in Civil or Commercial Matters. The Convention would apply if a foreign court or judicial authority were responsible for serving a summons.

On November 23rd, 2006, India ratified The Hague Convention, and on August 1st, 2007, the Convention took effect in India. When a foreign court or judicial authority needs to serve a summons on an individual who is currently based in India, or when an Indian court or judicial authority needs to serve a summons on an individual who is a citizen or resident of a country that is not a party to the Hague Convention, the Hague Convention comes into play. Thus, the Hague Service Convention establishes rules for the exchange of legal and extralegal papers between the two countries who are parties to it.

Undertaking international process service without proper preparation or local contacts is dangerous. Common issues include improper service, challenges to serve, dismissal of a case, and failure to enforce a decision. Countries have varying treaties, laws, and operating methods. This makes it difficult to serve papers or require proof.

Here at Undisputed Legal, we often deal with complexities of this kind. The odds of success improve when you use our network of process servers and our long-term experience with international service. We process service of process requests under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act, the Vienna Consular Convention, the Hague Service Convention, and the Inter-American Convention on Letters Rogatory.

PROCEDURE FOR INTERNATIONAL SERVICE OF PAPERS IN INDIA

Each participating state must appoint a Central Authority to handle requests for assistance from the other contracting governments in line with the convention. Therefore, the Ministry of Law and Justice's Department of Legal Affairs has been recognized as India's Central Authority for the agreement.

Any papers that need to be served in India must be written in English or accompanied by an English translation. The Ministry of Law must additionally serve the portion of the request that provides a synopsis of the document along with the actual document. The Applicant would be responsible for paying or reimbursing any fees associated with using a specific means of service or retaining a judicial officer or person competent under law. It should be noted here that India is home to more languages than any other nation. Its people speak more than a hundred and fifty languages. While a Hindi translation is not required for delivery under Indian law, the Central Authority will likely return a Hindi-only certificate of service (often handwritten). All evidence presented in a US court must be translated into English.

Once the Ministry of Law has completed service, it will provide the Applicant a certificate stating that the document has been served, together with information on the mode of service, the location where it was delivered, and the name of the recipient, The Central Authority can serve the document itself or shall arrange to have it served by an appropriate agency in accordance with its internal legislation or accordance with the manner requested by the applicant, provided such method is incompatible with the law of the State addressed.

The Central Authority has the discretion to demand that the document be written in, or translated into, the official language or one of the official languages of the State to which it is being sent. Once the Central Authority has completed service, a certificate attached to the Convention will be sent to the Applicant confirming that the document has been served and detailing the means of service, the location where it was delivered, and the name of the recipient.

ENFORCEMENT OF A FOREIGN JUDGEMENT IN INDIA

In cases where a writ of summons or an equivalent document had to be sent abroad for service pursuant to the present Convention and where a judgment has been entered against a defendant who has not appeared, the judge has the discretion to exempt the defendant from the effects of the expiration of the time for appealing the judgment if the defendant, without fault on their part, did not know the document in sufficient time to defend, Only after a reasonable amount of time after the defendant has received notice of the decision may an application for remedy be submitted. Since foreign service of the process often has many more variables to take account of than domestic service of papers, this leeway presented is often a breath of relief. At Undisputed Legal, we ensure that your documents adhere to the laws of the originating and the receiving court in order to minimize the variability that may arise in India process service. It should be kept in mind that each contracting state has the option to say that applications submitted after a certain date (which must be specified in the declaration but cannot be less than one year after the judge's issuance) would be rejected.

In addition, Article 10 states that no service of documents shall be effected by postal channels, directly through judicial officers, officials, or other competent persons of India, through the State of Origin, or the persons interested in the Judicial proceedings, because India has objected to all of these methods. This indicates an agreement under the Convention for service to be provided only by the Central Authority, i.e., the Ministry of Law. As a result, a court in the United States has acknowledged the service of summons in India through Facebook and email, despite the fact that such methods of communication are not addressed in Article 10 of the Hague Convention. India has not objected to this form of service.

International projects often have strict deadlines and might take a long to see results. While not every service of process supplier may be able to help you, private process service agencies like Undisputed Legal have substantial experience in serving legal documents in foreign jurisdictions. Because of our extensive experience, we are familiar with the many conventions and regulations that govern various situations.

Our services at Undisputed can help you meet these standards. We guarantee timely and precise service, and we ensure that you will always be aware of the status of your documents. When serving in a Hague Convention country, you may rely on us to help you compile the necessary paperwork for submission to the Central Authority. If we cannot operate within the Convention’s established framework, we will coordinate with the relevant authorities in countries that are not members of the Hague Convention.

Working on a global scale takes a lot of time. When you use Undisputed Legal, you can be certain that your job will be done correctly and quickly.

OUR PROCESS

Documents can be faxed at (800)-296-0115, emailed to ps@undisputedlegal.com, mailed to 590 Madison Avenue, 21 Floor, New York, New York 10022, or dropped off at any of our locations. We do require pre-payment and accept all major credit and debit cards. Once payment is processed, your sales receipt is immediately emailed for your records.

Drop-offs must call and make an appointment first to be added to building security to permit access to our office. Documents for service must be in a sealed envelope with payment in the form of a money order or attorney check (WE DO NOT ACCEPT CASH) payable to UNDISPUTED LEGAL INC.; Our receptionist receives all documents.

DOMESTIC COVERAGE AREAS:

INTERNATIONAL COVERAGE AREAS:

OFFICE LOCATIONS

New York: (212) 203-8001 – 590 Madison Avenue, 21st Floor, New York, New York 10022
Brooklyn: (347) 983-5436 – 300 Cadman Plaza West, 12th Floor, Brooklyn, New York 11201
Queens: (646) 357-3005 – 118-35 Queens Blvd, Suite 400, Forest Hills, New York 11375
Long Island: (516) 208-4577 – 626 RXR Plaza, 6th Floor, Uniondale, New York 11556
Westchester: (914) 414-0877 – 50 Main Street, 10th Floor, White Plains, New York 10606
Connecticut: (203) 489-2940 – 500 West Putnam Avenue, Suite 400, Greenwich, Connecticut 06830
New Jersey: (201) 630-0114 - 101 Hudson Street, 21 Floor, Jersey City, New Jersey 07302
Washington DC: (202) 655-4450 - 1101 Pennsylvania Avenue, Suite 300, Washington DC 20004

FOR ASSISTANCE SERVING LEGAL PAPERS IN INDIA

Simply pick up the phone and call Toll Free (800) 774-6922 or click the service you want to purchase. Our dedicated team of professionals is ready to assist you. We can handle all your India process service needs; no job is too small or too large!

Contact us for more information about our process-serving agency. We are ready to provide service of process to all our clients globally from our offices in New York, Brooklyn, Queens, Long Island, Westchester, New Jersey, Connecticut, and Washington, D.C.

"Quality is never an accident; it is always the result of high intention, sincere effort, intelligent direction, and skillful execution; it represents the wise choice of many alternatives"- Foster, William A

Sources

1. It shall require the person to appear before the officer at the stated time and place. It shall specify whether his attendance is required to give evidence, produce a document, or both purposes.

2. If that person cannot be located, by leaving it at his last known place of abode or business or by personally delivering it to an adult member of his family or if that person's address is known to the Registrar or other authorized person, by mailing it to him via registered mail;

3. The following are the most important parts of any summons:-

The purpose of the summons must be made very clear.
The official court or government agency seal is required to authenticate a summons.
The summoned individual's full legal name and mailing address should be included.
The summons should provide the exact time and location for the defendant to appear in court.
The nature of the wrongdoing must be described.

4. Since a servant is not a family member, he or she cannot be served with a summons.

5. By making an application under Order V Rule 4

6. Anyone holding a constitutional office is immune from having to make a personal presence in court because of CPC Section 133.

7. It is within the court's discretion to excuse an accused person's absence from the first hearing according to Section 205 of the Criminal Procedure Code. After a trial has begun, a defendant may be excused from appearing in court under Section 317 of the Criminal Procedure Code.

8. In order to comply with the requirements of the Convention, the following procedures must be followed in order to effectuate serving of summons in India:

Requests for service of process must be submitted to the Ministry of Law and Justice of the State of Origin in the approved format, with the original or a copy of the document to be served.
Each of the requests and the document must be served twice.
Suppose the request is in the correct format, then under Indian law. In that case, the Ministry must either personally serve the document or make arrangements for it to be served by a suitable agency in accordance with the Ministry's internal legislation or the applicant's specified mode of service.

9. Please be aware that in order to comply with US Due Process standards, any papers to be served must be written in language that a reasonable defendant may understand. If the defendant does not speak English, the forum court may compel translation into Hindi, Urdu, or one of India's other official languages.

10. As per Rule 16, the request and the document must be served twice.

11. The Central Authority must additionally serve the section of the request that provides a synopsis of the material along with the actual document. The Applicant would be responsible for paying or reimbursing fees associated with using a specific mode of service or hiring a judicial officer or other people competent under the law.

12. In India, when this rule applies, a request for relief must be submitted within a year after the date of the ruling, or it will be denied.

13. However, unless the document is to be served upon a citizen of the State of Origin, service of process in India cannot be made by diplomatic or consular agents of the State of Origin.

14. The Hague Convention would also lose its relevance in this context for the following reasons:

When the intended recipient's address is unknown;
where the lawsuit does not include a business or civil dispute;
If the paper that has to be served doesn't fall into the category of being either judicial or extra-judicial;