The situation described by you is taken care of by Order 18 Rule 15 of the Civil Procedure Code. This Rule is reproduced below:
“15. Power to deal with evidence taken before another Judge.— (1) Where a Judge is prevented by death, transfer or other cause from concluding the trial of a suit, his successor may deal with any evidence or memorandum taken down or made under the foregoing rules as if such evidence or memorandum had been taken down or made by him or under his direction under the said rules and may proceed with the suit from the stage at which his predecessor left it.
(2) The provisions of sub-rule (1) shall, so far as they are applicable, be deemed to apply to evidence taken in a suit transferred under Section 24.”
So, where evidence has been recorded by one judge, who is then transferred, the new judge can proceed further from the stage at which his predecessor left the case. In your case, since what remains is only the pronouncement of judgment and recording of evidence and arguments, etc., have already been completed, in view of the provisions of the above Rule, the new judge is competent to pronounce judgment in the case. There is no need to record the evidence afresh merely because the previous civil judge has been transferred.
The Supreme Court judgment in the case of Rasiklal Manikchand Dhariwal v. M.S.S. Food Products, (2012) 2 SCC 196, directly covers this point. In this case, the Supreme Court held as under:
“Order 18 Rule 15 provides for the contingency where the Judge before whom the hearing of the suit has begun is prevented by death, transfer or other cause from concluding the trial of a suit. This provision enables the successor Judge to proceed from the stage at which his predecessor left the suit. The provision contained in Order 18 Rule 15 of the Code is a special provision. The idea behind this provision is to obviate re-recording of the evidence or rehearing of the suit where a Judge is prevented by death, transfer or other cause from concluding the trial of a suit and to take the suit forward from the stage the predecessor Judge left the matter. The trial of a suit is a long-drawn process and in the course of trial, the Judge may get transferred; he may retire or in an unfortunate event like death, he may not be in a position to conclude the trial. The Code has taken care by this provision that in such event the progress that has already taken place in the hearing of the suit is not set at naught.
This provision in Order 18 Rule 15 comes into play in various situations such as where part of the evidence of a party has been recorded in a suit or where the evidence of the parties is closed and the suit is ripe for oral arguments or where the evidence of the parties has been recorded and the Judge has also heard the oral arguments of the parties and fixed the matter for pronouncement of judgment. The expression “from the stage at which his predecessor left it” is wide and comprehensive enough to take in its fold all situations and stages of the suit. No category or exception deserves to be carved out while giving full play to Order 18 Rule 15 of the Code which amply empowers the successor Judge to proceed with the suit from the stage at which his predecessor left it.”
In view of the above, it should be clear that there is no need for the new civil judge to record the evidence afresh and he can directly proceed to pronounce the judgment on the basis of the evidence recorded by the previous judge.
Dr. Ashok Dhamija is a New Delhi based Supreme Court Advocate and author of law books. Read more about him by clicking here. List of his Forum Replies. List of his other articles. List of his Quora Answers. List of his YouTube Videos.
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