There is another peculiar provision in Order 20 C.P.C. incorporated through 1976 amendment is Order 20 Rule 5 A C.P.C. which makes it obligatory to the court to inform the party as to the time within which appeal could be preferred from the date of Judgment as well as the appellate forum.
This obligation however, is attached to the court only when at least one of the parties contesting the case is not assisted by a legal counsel.
Order 20 Rule 5A further contemplates that the judge shall state in the very judgment that he so informed the parties as to the forum of appeal and the limitation period for preferring the appeal.
If a judge dictates the judgment otherwise than in open court, the judge is expected to correct the manuscript before he pronounces the judgment. A judge need not read the entire judgment when he pronounces the judgement.
ADVERTISEMENTS:
A judge needs to read only the operative portion of the judgment together with the points for determination, whereas sometimes the judges due to paucity of time reads the decisions on every issue and the bare operative portion of the judgment such as “the suit is decreed with costs”, ” the suit is decreed without costs”, “the suit is decreed only for eight thousand rupees together with interest at 12% interest per annum from 1-1-1990 till the date of this judgment and at the rate of 6% per annum from the date of the judgment together with costs”.
The judgment is made available to the parties or their counsels to study the entire judgment. But in criminal cases if the verdict is of acquittal, the pronouncement could be ‘the Accused is acquitted’; but in, the event of conviction, for Summon cases it can be the Accused is acquitted’,’ but in cases tried as Warrant Case (either on Police Charge-Sheet or cases instituted otherwise on police Report) the Accused is to be heard on the question of sentence under Section 248(2), and then sentence is to be passed.
In the civil cases, a judge do not find time to dictate judgment in the open court from the Bench as is the common practice in the High Court, but can be adhered to, under Order 20 Rule 3 of C.P.C., and many judges do pronounce judgments by dictation to the shorthand writer in open Court.