Court Procedures, Legal Drafting and Record Keeping
What this domain tests
Civil and criminal procedure fundamentals, jurisdiction, pleadings and drafting, court fee and filing, service of process, adjournments, judgment and decree, execution, and the office routine of maintaining court records.
Core rules
- Plaint: Order VII CPC; written statement: Order VIII; service of summons: Order V; appearance: Order IX; discovery: Order XI; judgment and decree: Order XX; execution: Order XXI.
- Order VII Rule 10 returns a plaint for want of jurisdiction; Order VII Rule 11 rejects a plaint on listed grounds such as no cause of action, barred by law or undervaluation. Rejection is a decree and is appealable as such; return merely redirects the suit.
- From 1 July 2024 the CrPC, IPC and Indian Evidence Act are replaced by the BNSS, BNS and BSA. Use the new numbering where the notification applies.
- Record keeping: receipt and diarising of papers, indexing, placing papers in the correct file, and preservation or destruction according to the High Court's rules. Certified copies and e-filing follow the High Court of Telangana rules.
Worked example
A plaint is filed in a court lacking territorial jurisdiction. The court does not reject it; it returns it under Order VII Rule 10 for presentation to the proper court. Rejecting it under Rule 11 would require one of the listed defects, such as the suit being barred by law, and would carry different appeal consequences.
Traps that cost marks
- Confusing rejection with return of a plaint.
- Forgetting that a written statement is due within the period fixed by the court, generally 30 days extendable to 90.
- Mixing old CrPC section numbers with the new BNSS sections.
- Losing marks on record-keeping questions by ignoring the distinction between preservation and weeding out.