Court
Handled by Advocate N. J. Parmar, B.A., LL.B., more than thirty-five years at the Bar. Court practice and notaryship run together: under section 3 of the Notaries Act, 1952 read with Rule 3 of the Notaries Rules, 1956, notaries are appointed from among advocates of long standing, and the application is routed through the court where the advocate practises.
Matters handled
- Recovery of money — on loans, invoices, dishonoured commitments and unpaid dues
- Specific performance of an agreement to sell, where a seller refuses to execute the sale deed. Note that section 49 of the Registration Act, 1908 expressly preserves the use of an unregistered document as evidence of a contract in a suit for specific performance — so an unregistered banakhat is not worthless here. Banakhat guide →
- Injunctions — restraining a sale, a construction, an encroachment or a disturbance of possession, including urgent interim applications
- Declaration and possession — establishing title and recovering possession
- Damages for breach of contract
- Partition suits, where co-owners cannot agree. Partition deeds →
Every civil claim has a period within which it must be brought, running from a defined starting point. A strong claim brought late is not a claim. If something has gone wrong, the worst thing you can do is wait to see whether it resolves itself — come and find out how long you actually have.
Interim relief
In many civil matters what decides the outcome is not the final judgment but what happens in the first weeks — whether the property can be sold while the case runs, whether the construction continues, whether the money is dissipated. Where interim relief is available it has to be sought immediately and supported by proper affidavits and documents. Delay is itself an argument against you.
Where a claim is time-barred, where the document relied on was never registered and therefore cannot be received in evidence of the transaction under section 49 of the Registration Act, 1908, or where the realistic recovery is less than the cost of recovering it — you will be told at the first meeting, not after money has been spent. A settlement reached quickly is very often worth more than a decree obtained slowly.
What to bring
- Every document you have, including the unhelpful ones
- Photo ID
- A dated account of what has happened
- Any notice or court paper already received or sent
- Agreements, receipts and account statements
- Details of the other side's address for service