Namaskar,
As many of you know, it is a common practice in India that all the pages to an Agreement have to be signed/initialled by the parties thereto (over and above the signing by both the parties at the end of the agreement).
[The same is true of other documents placed on record in court like Written Statements and Pleadings].
My question is whether this practice has any basis in the Law of Evidence and Law of Conveyancing ? If the parties to an Agreement [or the deponent in a Written Submission/Pleading] have already signed the deed document at the end of it, affixed their thumb impressions and photographs and the same is duly notarized and registered by paying the paying the applicable stamp duty and registration duty, can it be said that the Deed is not admissible in evidence because each and every page of the document is not signed/initialled by the parties ?
Please note that each and every page is indeed notarized by the authority by affixing the notarial seal to the divider of the pages, showing that no pages have been added/removed from the deed document subsequent to its execution.
Despite this what extra import is added to the document by the presence or absence of the parties’ signature/initials on every page ? In my opinion such understanding has no basis in common sense or Law.
If a party later claims that he has not read certain clauses while signing the document, he shall be automatically Estopped from claiming so since it is settled law i.e. an automatic presumption, since ancient times, that a written statement once signed at the bottom is sufficient proof that the Party thereto is aware of all the contents. Whether or not he has read it is immaterial (certain exceptions exist where the contents are deliberately written in very small font to mislead the signee).
Insights and discussions from the Learned Advocates on this topic will be highly appreciated !
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