CRP/146/2026 of B.Venugopal Vs Seagull Clearing and Forwarding Agencies Pvt Ltd on 16 October 2026

Order

This Civil Revision Petition has been filed under Article 227 of the Constitution of India challenging the fair and decretal order passed in in IA No.5 of 2025 in OS No.6599 of 2019 on the file of the learned II Additional City Civil Court, Chennai, wherein the application filed by the petitioners / plaintiffs under Order XVI Rule 7 of CPC seeking to issue supeona to HDFC Bank and to direct the bank to produce the details regarding the issuance of cheque and other particulars, came to be rejected by the Court below.

2. Heard both sides and carefully perused the materials available on record as well as the order passed by the Court below.

3. The petitioners are the plaintiffs, who filed the suit in OS No.6599 of 2019 seeking for the relief of declaration to declare the memorandum of deposit of title deeds executed on 06.04.2011 as invalid and not binding on the plaintiffs and for a mandatory injunction directing the 2nd defendant to execute the deed of cancellation and cancel the said memorandum.

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4. The written statement was filed by the 1st defendant and the 1st defendant also made a counterclaim. The 2nd defendant had placed reliance upon a cheque dated 01.09.2019, which is said to have been issued by the plaintiffs to discharge the amounts due and payable to the 1st defendant. The petitioners denied the issuance of any such cheque.

5. In order to substantiate the defence of the petitioners, the present application came to be filed in IA No.5 of 2025, seeking for issuance of a supeona to the bank to produce the relevant documents.

6. A counter was filed by the 1st defendant, who had no objection to the issuance of supeona. However, the 1st defendant wanted some more documents to be summoned from the bank and the details of those documents were also provided in the counter affidavit.

7. The Court below dismissed the application on the ground that no useful purpose will be served by issuing the supeona, since the documents may not be available in the bank, as they are destroyed on a regular basis as per the provisions of the Banking Companies Act ( Period of Preservation of Records) Rules, 1985.

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8. In the considered view of this Court, the Court below ought not to have rejected the application on a mere assumption. This is in view of the fact that the petitioners / plaintiffs were able to produce a certificate issued by the bank dated 30.10.2023 to the effect that the cheque in question was from the cheque book that was issued on 07.11.2000. If the bank was able to issue such a certificate, they would not issue the same without verifying the records. Therefore, the Court below ought to have first issued the supeona and called the concerned officer to ascertain the availability of the records. In view of the fact that the Court below has relied upon a rule and dismissed the application, this Court finds the said reasoning to be perverse warranting the interference of this Court.

9. The 1st respondent while filing the counter also sought for production of some additional documents by the bank officials. The same is being contested by the petitioners / plaintiffs. It is not necessary for this Court to go into that issue in the present case.

10. In the light of the above discussion, the order passed by the Court below is hereby set-aside. The Court below is directed to issue supeona to the bank and the Court below shall also independently deal with the request made

CRP No. 146 of 2026

by the 1st respondent for summoning some additional documents, on its own merits and in accordance with law.

11. In the result, this Civil Revision Petition is allowed in the above terms. No costs. 16-10-2026 Index: Yes/No Speaking/Non-speaking order Neutral Citation: Yes/No RKA To The II Additional City Civil Court, Chennai.

CRP No. 146 of 2026

N.ANAND VENKATESH J. RKA CRP No. 146 of 2026 16-10-2026