The High Court of Karnataka on Friday said there was no legal basis for the practice adopted by some family courts in the State insisting on the personal presence of litigants at the time of filing of case.
“Their personal presence is not required when a petition is presented by an advocate as an authorised representative of the petitioner or petitioners... In the same way, when a notice of proceedings filed in the family court is served, on the returnable date the family court cannot insist on the personal presence of the respondent when the respondent enters appearance through a legal practitioner as an authorised agent,” the court said.
A Division Bench comprising Chief Justice Abhay Shreeniwas Oka and Justice S. Vishwajith Shetty passed the order on a PIL petition, initiated suo motu by the court to find solutions to legal and technical issues in conducting proceedings in trial courts owing to the COVID-19 lockdown restrictions.
“The petitioner can file a petition in the family court through an advocate acting as an authorised agent. The petition can be accompanied by an application seeking permission to be represented by the advocate as an authorised agent,” the court observed, while referring to two earlier judgments on the issue of allowing legal practitioners to represent litigants before family courts.
Presence of complainant
When a written complaint as contemplated by Section 190 (1)(a) of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) is filed and when the complainant is represented by an advocate, the courts of magistrate cannot insist upon the personal presence of the complainant at the time of filing of complaint.
“In case of a complaint alleging offence punishable under Section 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act, it is not necessary for the magistrates in every case to insist upon the personal presence of the complainant for examining him or her upon oath as contemplated by Section 200 of CrPC, if such a complaint is accompanied by an affidavit from the complainant or an authorised representative,” the court observed.
