CHAPTER VI - PROCESSES TO COMPEL APPEARANCE
A—Summons
61. Form of summons—Every
summons issued by a Court under this Code shall be in writing,
in
duplicate, signed by the presiding officer of such Court or by such other
officer as the High
Court
may, from time to time, by rule direct, and shall bear the seal of the Court.
62. Summons how served
(1)
Every summons shall be served by a police officer, or subject to such rules as
the State
Government
may make in this behalf, by an officer of the Court issuing it or other public
servant.
(2)
The summons shall, if practicable, be served personally on the person summoned,
by
delivering
or tendering to him one of the duplicates of the summons.
(3)
Every person on whom a summons is so served shall, if so required by the
serving officer,
sign
a receipt therefore on the back of the other duplicate.
63. Service of summons on corporate bodies and societies
Service
of a summons on a corporation may be effected by serving it on the secretary,
local
manager
or other principal officer of the corporation, or by letter sent by registered
post,
addressed
to the chief officer of the corporation in India, in which case the service
shall be
deemed,
to have been effected when the letter would arrive in ordinary course of post.
Explanation—In this section
"corporation" means an incorporated company or other body
corporate
and includes a society registered under the Societies Registration Act, 1860
(21 of
1860)
64. Service when persons summoned cannot be found —
Where
the person summoned cannot, by the exercise of due diligence, be found, the
summons
may
be served by leaving one of the duplicates for him with some adult male member
of his
family
residing with him, and the person with whom the summons is so left shall, if so
required
by
the serving officer, sign a receipt therefor on the back of the other duplicate
Explanation—A servant is not a
member of the family within the meaning of this section
65. Procedure when service cannot be effected as before provided
If
service cannot by the exercise of due diligence be effected as provided in
section 62, section
63
or section 64, the serving officer shall affix one of the duplicates of the
summons to some
conspicuous
part of the house or homestead in which the person summoned ordinarily resides;
and
thereupon the Court, after making such inquiries as it thinks fit, may either
declare that the
summons
has been duly served or order fresh service in such manner as it considers
proper.
66. Service on Government servant
(1)
Where the person summoned is in the active service of the Government, the Court
issuing the
summons
shall ordinarily send it in duplicate to the head of the office in which such
person is
employed;
and such head shall thereupon cause the summons to be served in the manner
provided
by section 62, and shall return it to the Court under his signature with the
endorsement
required
by that section.
(2)
Such signature shall be evidence of due service
67. Service of summons outside local limits
When
a Court desires that a summons issued by it shall be served at any place
outside its local
jurisdiction,
it shall ordinarily send summons in duplicate to a Magistrate within whose
local
jurisdiction
the person summoned resides, or is, to be there served.
68. Proof of service in such cases and when serving officer not
present –
(1)
When a summons issued by a Court is served outside its local jurisdiction, and
in any case
where
the officer who has served a summons is not present at the hearing of the case,
an
affidavit,
purporting to be made before a Magistrate, that such summons has been served,
and a
duplicate
of the summons purporting to be endorsed (in the manner provided by section 62
or
section
64) by the person to whom it was delivered or tendered or with whom it was
left, shall be
admissible
in evidence, and the statements made therein shall be deemed to be correct
unless and
until
the contrary is proved
(2)
The affidavit mentioned in this section may be attached to the duplicate of the
summons and
returned
to the Court.
69. Service of summons on witness by post
(1)
Notwithstanding anything contained in the preceding section of this Chapter, a
Court issuing
a
summons to a witness may, in addition to and simultaneously with the issue of
such summons,
direct
a copy of the summons to be served by registered post addressed to the witness
at the place
where
he ordinarily resides or carries on business or personally works for gain
(2)
When an acknowledgment purporting to be signed by the witness or an endorsement
purporting
to be made by a postal employee that the witness refused to take delivery of
the
summons
has been received, the Court issuing the summons may declare that the summons
has
been
duly served.
STATE AMENDMENT
Andaman and Nicobar Islands and Lakshadweep:
In
section 69,—
(a)
in sub-section (1), after the words "to
be served by registered post"
the words "or of the
substance
thereof to be served by wireless message" shall be inserted .
(b)
in sub-section (2), for the words "that the witness refused to take
delivery of the summons"
the
words "or a wireless messenger that the witness refused to take delivery
of the summons or
the
message, as the case may be" shall be substituted.
[Vide Regulation 6 of 1977, sec 2 (wef
17-11-1977).
