1. The Bank of India had filed a suit for recovery of Rs. 54,32,677.01 in this Court more than twenty years ago. This suit was later transferred to the Court of Additional District Judge (Bank Cases) Jammu, for its disposal.

2. Taking note of earlier interim orders passed during the currency of the suit, the trial Court, vide its order of August 10, 2007, had allowed opportunity to the petitioner- defendant to deposit Rs. 10,000/- as diet money for its out-station witnesses appearing at serial nos. 5 to 10, 14, 20 and 21 of the list of witnesses, and Rs. 1500/- each for rest of its witnesses who had to come from Jammu.

3. Petitioner-defendant did not comply with this order as a result whereof the petitioners right to summon its witnesses through the process of the Court was closed. The petitioner was, however, permitted to produce its witnesses on its own.

4. Questioning the trial Courts orders dated August 10, 2007 and September 10, 2007, petitioners counsel submits that as the trial Court had earlier accepted Rs. 100/- as diet money of the ex-station witnesses, its order of August 10, 2007 was not justified, because no provision of the Code of Civil Procedure may permit such a course. He submits that order passed by the trial Court on September 10, 2007, closing petitioners right to summon its witnesses through Court process, too, for the similar reasons, was liable to be set aside.

5. Learned counsel for the Bank, on the other hand, has justified the trial Courts orders, urging that ex-station witnesses, particularly those enjoying the status of Chairman and Zonal Officer of Scheduled Banks, cannot be compelled to appear in the Court unless the petitioner had deposited in the Court the actual expenses which these witnesses would have to defray to reach the Court house and spend for their stay at Jammu.

6. I have considered the submissions of learned counsel for the parties.

7. Before dealing with the submissions made by learned counsel for the parties it would be profitable to refer to what had weighed with the trial Court to direct the petitioner to deposit Rs. 10,000/- each for out-station witnesses, holding the status of Chairman and Zonal Officer of the Bank. This order reads thus:-

In order to succeed in their ulterior motive to protract the litigation the defendants further submitted a long list of 21 witnesses without stating any specific purpose for which they are called i.e. as to what they have to depose and as to what they have to prove from the witness and their diet expenses have been fixed at Rs. 100/- each though the witnesses have to be summoned from Mumbai, New Delhi, Chandigarh and Gaziabad (UP) respectively. If a witness that too of a status of Chairman of a Bank or the Zonal Officers of the Bank who have to come from outside the State it will take at least three days for them to appear in this Court and that too if they travel by air. As such the to and fro air fair will not cost them less than Rs. 10,000/- each only, for travel even if no diet expenses are defrayed to them for the minimum three days they have to spend as appearing as a witness. The present application has simply been filed by the defendants so that the litigation does come to a logical conclusion and in my view, if such a practice is not curbed or discouraged then their will no end to the present litigation and it will take another two decades to see that the light of the day.

Viewed thus, it is directed that in case the defendants are still seriously interested to get the witnesses mentioned in the list of witnesses to be summoned by this Court they shall deposit Rs. 10,000/- (Rupees Ten Thousand only) each for the rest of the witnesses who have to come from Jammu on or before the next date fixed positively with a specific purpose for which the witness is proposed to be produced and with a further condition that they shall defray the diet expenses if found still insufficient at the time of their examination, failing which the defendants shall

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