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Summary Procedure
(Suit Relating To Bills of Exchange,Hundis, Promissory Notes etc.)

• The important feature of "summary suit", is that, here the Defendant is not allowed to defend the suit, unless he takes the permission from court.
• Defendant is allowed to defend himself only if according to the affidavit filed by him, it is must for the plaintiff to prove charges against him.

  If by affidavit by Defendant, it appears that he has no defense, then court will decline him the permission and pass necessary orders in favor of plaintiff.

• Summary procedure applies to following kinds of suits :-
  1. Suits upon bills of Exchanges, hundies or promissory notes
  2. Any suit filed by the plaintiff for recovery of a debt / money payable by the defendant according to a written contract, or
  3. In case of an enactment wherein the amount to be recovered is a fixed amount of money , or a debt other than a penalty, or
  4. A guarantee, where the claim against the principal is in respect of a debt or for money only.
• The object behind provision of summary procedure was to ensure a speedy trial for recovery of money in cases where the defendant has no defence and thus any unreasonable delay sought to be caused is eliminated.

How Is Summary Suit Instituted

• A summary suit is instituted by presenting a plaint in the court containing the following specification:
  1. It must mention that the suit is filed under summary procedure and below the title of the suit it should be inscribed "Under Order XXXVII of code of Civil Procedure, 1908".
  2. It must state that no relief, which does not fall within the ambit of this rule, has been claimed.
• Then the summons of the suit are to be issued to the defendant, which should be in prescribed from no. 4, accompanied with a copy of plaint and Annexures.
• When the defendant appears, he is required to enter his appearance within 10 days of receipt of summons. On default of his appearance it is assumed that he has admitted the allegations made in the plaint and the plaintiff gets entitled to a final order granting him the sum as mentioned in the plaint alongwith interest at the specified date and costs if the Court thinks it appropriate. (Rule 2)
• Where the defendant enters an appearance, the plaintiff is required to serve on him the summons for judgement in Form no. "4A) accompanied with an affidavit verifying the cause of action and the amount which is claimed in the plaint, and a statement to the effect that there is no defense to the suit.
• Then, the defendant may apply for leave to defend the suit within 10 days from the date of service of summons, disclosing by way of an affidavit, such facts which he believes to be sufficient to entitle him of the right to defend himself.
• The Court shall not refuse permission to the defendant to defend the suit unless it believes that the disclosure by the defendant does not show that he has any substantial defense to raise or that it is frivolous.

  Also, where the defendant admits part of the amount claimed by the plaintiff, then the court shall permit the defendant to defend only, when such admitted amount is deposited by the defendant in the court.

• The court may also require the plaintiff or the Defendant to deposit some security amount by way of costs, depending on the facts, i.e. to ensure the Bonafide of plaintiff or Defendant.