Incidental proceeding, Payment into court, security costs and commissions (Orders XXIV

A retired teacher in Pune is the only witness to a road accident, but he is bed-ridden and cannot travel to a Mumbai court. A landlord sues a tenant for ₹1.2 lakh, and the tenant thinks he owes only ₹90,000 and wants to put that on record. A businessman from abroad sues in Mumbai and has no property here, so the defendant asks who will pay the defendant's costs if the suit fails. None of these is about who wins the suit. Each is a side-step in the case that keeps the case fair. The Code calls these incidental proceedings, and the syllabus names three Orders for them.

In two minutes

Incidental proceedings are the procedural side-steps that do not decide the merits: commissions to take evidence, inspect, account or partition (ss.75-78; O.XXVI), a defendant's payment into court in satisfaction of a claim (O.XXIV), and security for costs from the plaintiff (O.XXV).

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