It refers to an ex-party stay order granted by a bench of a High Court despite a caveat filed in the case by the caveator, with no notice served to the caveator and/or his counsel. An inspection of the case-file of the court by the counsel of caveator revealed that the court-notice was sent to the caveator only through a private courier service, which was never delivered to the caveator till date of hearing of the case and even thereafter.
Usually there is a practice to ensure sending of court-notices to concerned ones through court-messenger, Speed and/or Registered Post in addition to private courier service if so desired by the opposite party. It is necessary because private courier-services are totally unreliable, and there always remain chances of manipulation that court-notice may not reach to the caveator at least before the date of hearing thus enabling the opposite party obtain an ex-party stay-order that too with a long adjournment.
Chief Justice of India should issue corrective directives so that it may be mandatory to send court-notices through reliable means of court-messenger together with Speed and/or Registered Post of Postal Department to ensure sincere efforts of service of court-notices. Court-registries should be duty-bound to ensure that sincere efforts were made for delivery of court-notice/s to concerned ones before hearing of the case in the court. Sending court-notices only by private courier-service must not be taken as sufficient. Proper enquiry should be made and all guilty punished in case it is proved that private courier-service/s did not make sincere efforts to deliver court-notice/s to concerned ones.
Various division benches of Supreme Court have from time to time observed that ex-party stay-orders and adjournments are weakness of our justice-delivery-system, where in many cases parties obtaining ex-party stay-order manage repeated adjournments and at times ultimately even losing the case. Ex-party stay-orders may be granted only in very exceptional cases with short-hearing dates ensuring that all court-cases with ex-party stay-orders may be decided in a time-bound period with exemplary cost levied on the party losing the case after obtaining an ex-party stay-order.
Such harsh steps can only curb tendency of getting ex-party stay orders and thereafter long and frequent adjournments.
