Whatsapp, Telegram, E-Mail –Trending E-Modes to Effect Service:
Law always changes with the changing needs of the society. Accepting the virtual world is the need of the hour because even during the recent times, due to the pandemic, the entire world was brought to a standstill and the lawyers were unable to appear physically in the courts.
The e-modes have proved to be essential for the delivery of timely service and has played an important role in the civil cases.
Modes of Serving Summons Under CPC
It is known that under Order 5, Rules 9-30 of the Code of Civil Procedure, there are 5 modes prescribed for the service of summons which are as follows:
- Personal or direct service
- Service by court
- Service by plaintiff
- By affixing a copy of summons to the outer door or the conspicuous part when the party refuses to sign the acknowledgement
- By affixing the copy of summons to the conspicuous place in the courthouse or the part of the house where the defendant is known to have last resided, carried out his business or worked for gain.
Further, when the CPC was amended in 2002, it included the electronic means of serving the summons.
In the case of Central Electricity Regulatory Commission vs National Hydroelectric Power Corporation Ltd and Ors, the court held that sometimes there have to be urgent interim reliefs, etc and in such cases the summons can be sent by email.
Various High Courts have also amended their rules regarding the same, like that of Bombay High Court and the Andhra Pradesh High Court. There have been further amendments and WhatsApp has also been included to provide for the service of summons. The Financial Commissioner Court in Haryana was the first one to serve the summons by WhatsApp.
The same was allowed by the Bombay High Court in a copyright infringement case of a movie called “Pushpaka Vimana”. It is pertinent to note that this method of serving the summons can be used at the international level as well for speeding up the process of serving the summons.
The courts have held that when there is a double tick of the WhatsApp message, it is deemed to have been delivered to the party.
Conclusion
Thus, law is dynamic and it has to change according to the needs. The process of serving of summons by e-modes is nothing but to speed up the process of service of summons, which earlier took a considerable amount of time in litigation.