SURINDER SINGH Vs. PARGAT SINGH AND OTHERS

JUDGEMENT

(1.) In this order the parties are referred to by their original positions in the suit. Defendant No.1 has brought this revision petition challenging the order dated July 25, 2014 passed by Addl. Civil Judge (Senior Division) Fazilka.

(2.) The testamentary will was executed in 2002. It was registered in the office of Sub Registrar-cum-Tehsildar, Fazilka. The will is under challenge in the suit. The petitioner is contesting defendant in the suit. The defendants' evidence is in progress. The plaintiff has led his evidence in the affirmative and closed it. The marginal witnesses to the will are no more. It is not known when the marginal witnesses died either before or during the pendency of the suit. An application was placed before the learned trial Judge that the Sub Registrar, Fazilka who had registered the will and is presently posted at Khanna should be summoned by court or permission be granted to the defendant to produce him as a witness to the will for recording of his testimony with respect to the attending circumstances of the registration of the will before him in the office of the Sub Registrar, Fazilka.

(3.) The original will is an exhibited document on the judicial record. The prayer has been turned down by the trial Judge. When the Sub Registrar, Fazilka acted in relation to the disputed will he did so in his official capacity and after a lapse of twelve years cannot reasonably be expected to narrate graphically what transpired in his office, a random incident in the humdrum of everyday life, except to produce the certified copy of the will if called as a formal witness. When he appears as a formal witness, it will not be permissible for the defendant to cross-examine the official witness on the length and breadth of what transpired in his office twelve years ago only to promote the case of the defendant by devious means, the incident long forgotten. There is another reason which is not far to see as to why the request deserves to be disallowed. The then Sub Registrar, Fazilka if called as a witness may have been suborned to be His Masters' Voice only to corrupt the purity and sanctity of the witness box. He can well speak from record but not tell a story.