Contents, date and signature of judgment: O41 R31

Code of Civil Procedure

 

31. Contents, date and signature of judgment.—The judgment of the Appellate Court shall be in writing and shall state—

(a) the points for determination;

(b) the decision thereon;

(c) the reasons for the decision; and,

(d) where the decree appealed from is reversed or varied, the relief to which the appellant is entitled;

and shall at the time that it is pronounced be signed and dated by the Judge or by the Judges concurring therein.

Part in Red is original provisions from CPC reproduced here for reference.

Code of Civil Procedure

Simplified explanation:

Order XLI Rule 31 deals with the contents, date and signature of the judgment. The issue has been considered time.

How regular first appeal is to be disposed of by the appellate Court/High Court has been considered by the apex Court in various decisions. Order XLI of C.P.C. deals with appeals from original decrees. Among the various rules, Rule 31 mandates that the judgment of the appellate Court shall state:

(a) the points for determination;

(b) the decision thereon;

(c) reasons for the decision; and-

(d) where the decree appealed from is reversed or varied, the relief to which the appellant is entitled.

Order XLI, Rule 31 CPC provides guidelines for the appellate court as to how the court has to proceed and decide the case. The provisions should be read in such a way as to require that the various particulars mentioned therein should be taken into consideration. Thus, it must be evident from the judgment of the appellate court that the court has properly appreciated the facts/evidence, applied its mind and decided the case considering the material on record. It would amount to substantial compliance of the said provisions if the appellate court’s judgment is based on the independent assessment of the relevant evidence on all important aspect of the matter and the findings of the appellate court are well founded and quite convincing. It is mandatory for the appellate court to independently assess the evidence of the parties and consider the relevant points which arise for adjudication and the bearing of the evidence on those points. Being the final court of fact, the first appellate court must not record mere general expression of concurrence with the trial court judgment rather it must give reasons for its decision on each point independently to that of the trial court. Thus, the entire evidence must be considered and discussed in detail. Such exercise should be done after formulating the points for consideration in terms of the said provisions and the court must proceed in adherence to the requirements of the said statutory provisions.

In view of various judgments from various courts in India following points can be noted:

The provisions of Rule 31 of Order 41 C.P.C. should be reasonably construed and should be held to require the various particulars mentioned under Rule 31 to take into consideration.

Under Order 41, Rule 31 of the Code of Civil Procedure, it is mandatory upon the trial court to independently weigh the evidence of the parties and consider the relevant points which arise for adjudication and the bearing of the evidence on those points. As the first appellate court is the final court of fact, it must not record a mere general expression of concurrence with the trial court’s judgment. 

The court of first appeal should not merely endorse the findings of the trial court. But, in order to meet the requirement of Order 41, Rule 31 C.P.C., the Appellate Court must give reasons for its decision independently to that of the trial Court.

In order to meet the requirement of substantial compliance of the provisions of Order 41 Rule 31 C.P.C., the first appellate court must deal all the points agitated before it and it must record reasons in support of its findings, and if the provisions have substantially been complied with, the judgment would not vitiate.

The substantial compliance of the provisions of Order 41 Rule 31 is enough in case, it is made out from a bare reading of the judgment that, while making substantial compliance of the said statutory provisions, justice has not suffered.

The Court should formulate the points for its consideration in terms of Order 41 Rule 31 CPC and proceed with the disposal of the appeal.

A point not necessary for the disposal of appeal may not be decided.

=========

Reference: http://www.nja.nic.in/16%20CPC.pdf

Please share and follow this blog for more such law related articles.