AMANGENTI PRAMEELA Vs. P VENKAR REDDY

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Petitioners filed O.S.No. 8 of 1998 in the Court of Senior Civil Judge, Nalgonda for the relief of partition and separate possession. The trial of the suit was commenced. Petitioners closed their evidence and the evidence of defendants commenced. The first defendant examined himself as D.W. 1. During the course of his cross-examination, it was elicited through him that a partition took place among various members of the family on 12-1-1980 and two sets of documents were executed evidencing the said partition. It was also elicited from him that one of the documents was kept with him and the other with one Mr. Pratap Reddy. He has not filed the document dated 12-1-1980.

(2.) Petitioners got issued a notice to D.W. 1 calling upon him to produce the original of the document, dated 12-1-1980, before the Court. There was no response to this. Thereupon, the petitioners secured xerox copy of the document, dt.12-1-1980, which is said to be a partition deed. They filed I.A.No. 156 of 2001 in the Court seeking permission to adduce it as secondary evidence. They also claim to have filed I.A.No. 205 of 2001 for impounding the said document, since it was not stamped. I.A. No. 205 of 2001 was dismissed on taking the view that no stamp duty can be levied on xerox copy of a document. The order of the trial Court was confirmed by this Court in C.R.P.No. 3458 of 2001.

(3.) I.A.No. 156 of 2001 was resisted by the contesting respondents. They took the plea that unless the original was available for comparison, the xerox copy of the same cannot be received in evidence. Through its order, dated 24-4-2001, the trial Court dismissed the I.A. Hence, this revision.