Judgment and Decree Questions and Answers

Answer: D

Both (A) and (R) are true and (R) is the correct explanation of (A).

The Assertion states the ground on which an ex parte decree can be set aside: the defendant was prevented by sufficient cause from appearing when the suit was called on for hearing. The Reason sets out Order IX Rule 13 of the Code of Civil Procedure, the provision that creates that remedy, under which the court must be satisfied either that the summons was not duly served or that the defendant was prevented by sufficient cause from appearing.

The Assertion is therefore a direct application of the rule in the Reason, and the Reason is why the Assertion is true. The options treating either as false, or the two as unconnected, fail.

Answer: A

The defendant may seek relief by applying for setting aside the ex-parte decree.

Order IX Rule 13 of the Code of Civil Procedure lets a defendant against whom a decree is passed ex parte apply to the court that passed it to set it aside, if he shows that the summons was not duly served or that he was prevented by sufficient cause from appearing. Its proviso deals with a decree against several defendants: where the decree cannot be set aside against one alone, it may be set aside against all or any of them.

An appeal or a review may also be available, but each option saying 'only' wrongly makes that route exclusive, and a separate suit is not the remedy the Code provides.

Answer: D

A decree does not include any order of dismissal for default.

Section 2(2) of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 defines a decree as the formal expression of an adjudication that conclusively determines the rights of the parties. It expressly includes the rejection of a plaint and the determination of any question within Section 144, and a decree may be preliminary or final.

The same clause expressly excludes any adjudication from which an appeal lies as an appeal from an order, and any order of dismissal for default. Such an order is remedied by an application for restoration (Order IX), not by an appeal as from a decree.

Answer: D

The determination that is not a decree is Dismissal of a suit for default.

Section 2(2) of the Code of Civil Procedure defines a decree as the formal expression of an adjudication which conclusively determines the rights of the parties on matters in controversy. It expressly includes the rejection of a plaint and the determination of any question within Section 144 (restitution), and expressly excludes any order of dismissal for default.

Option A is the core of the definition itself, and B and C are the two deemed decrees, so each of them is a decree.