ANIL KSHETARPAL, J.

1. Plaintiffs-petitioners are in the revision petition against the order dated 20.09.2017 declining their request to declare PW-9 Mukesh Kumar, a witness as hostile and grant opportunity to the plaintiffs to cross-examine him.

2. Learned trial Court has refused to declare Mukesh Kumar, PW- 9 as hostile on the ground that since Mukesh Kumar has been partly cross-examined, therefore, now Mukesh Kumar is a witness of the defendant and the plaintiffs at this stage cannot be permitted to get the witness declared hostile and hence, no permission to cross-examine him can be granted.

3. Section 154 of the Evidence Act deals with such situation. It is extracted as under:-

“Question by party to his own witness – The Court may, in its discretion, permit the person who calls a witness to put any questions to him which might be put in cross-examination by the adverse party.

[Nothing in this section shall disentitle the person so permitted under sub-section (1), to reply on any part of the evidence of such witness].”

4. A reading of the Section 154 does not restrict the operation of the provision to a particular stage in the examination of a witness. A witness can be got