JUDGMENT :

Janak Raj Kotwal, J.

1. Rule-4 of Order XVIII Code of the Civil Procedure, Svt. 1977 (CPC) as substituted by the Civil Laws (Amendment) Act, 2009 (Act VI of 2009), provides that in civil cases examination-in-chief of the witnesses shall be on their affidavits, copies whereof shall be supplied to the opposite party and cross and re-examination shall be recorded either by the court or by the commissioner appointed by the court. The issue raised in this petition under section 104 CPC read with Article 227 of the Constitution of India filed by the defendants involves a situation where a witness, whose examination-in-chief has been tendered on affidavit, dies before he could be produced before the court for cross-examination. A few facts leading to the situation, as it has arisen, are that in the suit filed by the plaintiffs, herein respondents, in the court of Munsiff, Billawar against the defendants, herein petitioners, the defendants tendered examination-in-chief of their witnesses on their sworn affidavits. Plaintiffs' evidence was closed on 19.03.2016 and thereafter commenced the cross-examination of the defendants' witnesses. Two witnesses of the defendants, namely, Ratan