DINESH V. JATANIA Vs. MANJULA D. JATANIA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The parties to this petition, in this Judgment will be referred to as the husband and wife respectively.

(2.) The husband has filed a matrimonial petition being M.J. Petition No. 271 of 1981 against the wife for a decree of divorce under the provisions of the Hindu Marriage Act alleging cruelty under Sec. 13(1)(i)(a) in the City Civil Court, Bombay. The evidence of the husband as well as the wife is over. The wife thereafter on 30th Sept. 1985 called her father as her witness. After the examination-in-chief of the wife's father was completed, the cross-examination started and for want of time the same was adjourned to the next day viz. the 1st of Oct. 1985. On the 1st of Oct. 1985 the witness viz. the father of the wife did not appear in the Court. Advocate for the wife then made an application in Court that he did not intend to call the witness for cross-examination and wanted to give up the witness and further requested that his entire evidence should be ignored. The Advocate for the husband objected to the application and submitted that once the witness is produced in Court and his evidence has been recorded, the opposite party has a right to complete the cross-examination and that the above said party had also right to prove his case from the cross-examination of the said witness and demolish the case of the party calling the witness. The learned Judge of the City Civil Court before whom the matrimonial petition is still pending, passed an order on the 7th of Oct., 1985 overruling the objections of the learned Advocate for the husband that the Advocate for the wife had a right to give up his witness and, therefore, did not compel the witness to appear for further cross-examination. The learned Judge further passed order that the entire evidence given by the witness viz. the father of the wife should be ignored. A few days thereafter an application for review of the order dated 7th Oct. 1985 was passed before the same learned Judge, who rejected the same.

(3.) Being aggrieved by the impugned order passed by the learned Judge, City Civil Court, on 7th of Oct. 1985 the husband filed in this Court Civil Revision Application No. 650 of 1985. On the 25th of Oct. 1985 the learned Single Judge of this Court Mr. Justice R.A. Jahagirdar passed the following order on the husband's Civil Revision Application as follows: