Dated 23rd August, 2020
What is a legal Notice?
Legal Notice is a formal written document which highlights the grievance of the sender and the corrective remedy sought, or it is intimation to the receiver to make good to all the damage caused. A legal notice often contains a warning or an expressed opinion of the sender to take legal recourse if the grievances are not addressed. A legal notice is an attempt to settle dispute amicably.
Necessity of replying to legal notice
It is not mandatory to reply to a notice, yet replying appropriately to a legal notice bearing in mind the laws applicable becomes a very easy method to avoid any unnecessary litigation because the receiver of the Legal Notice . Through a Legal Notice and its reply both the Parties convey their stand on any issue to each other. No reply to a notice can add advantage to the sender in a court of law. To ensure that no reply to a notice does not become a ground to establish the fault of the receiver it is always preferable to reply to a legal notice.
Consequences of not replying to a Legal Notice
Not replying to a legal notice enables the sender to invoke legal action against his claims. Even though the factum of non-reply to notice cannot be by itself be construed as an admission of liability averred in the notice and cannot be used to conclusively reach to a conclusion however it can be a supporting factor.
- The non-replying the notice by the defendant has no material hearing on the evidence of the parties when the evidence of the parties has been thoroughly discussed. The Hon’ble District Judge in the case of Firm Sohan Lal Kishan Lal vs Firm Talwaria Bros [1984 WLN UC 212]. that it however would have been better on his part to send the reply denying its liability for the payment of the suit money and disclosing the receipt then and there.
This clearly establishes that the non-reply of notice is not primary evidence within the meaning of Section 62 of Indian Evidence Act however it is an indirect evidence which does not by itself prove the fact in issue but is so associated with fact in issue that can reasonably help in reaching a logical conclusion.
- It was also held in the case of Smt. Leelavathi.D.S vs Sri. Kantharaju the non-reply of legal notice by itself, is not a ground to accept the case of the complainant. It is for the complainant by produce convincing, clinching, evidence to prove the guilt of the accused.
The same stand was taken in the case of G.C. Shekar Raj Urs vs Purushotham Raj that by non-reply the notice is not a ground to draw the statutory presumption, as the accused successfully proved his probable defence by way of cross- examining.
However what is important to note in all these cases is that though none of the cases the non reply was taken as conclusive evidence their admissibility as an evidence to establish the offence was not completely discarded. The judgments somewhere postulated the corroboration of non-reply notices with other material evidence. Or in simpler words the presumption of guilt on grounds of non-reply to a notice can be rebutted by justification for the same.
This has also been explained through a fairly recent Judgement where the Additional City Civil & Sessions Judge, Bangalore in Prasanna Kumar J.H v. Ranga Rao Y.N.having regard to all the facts of the case, held that where the grounds of appeal urged before the court did not inspire confidence since no prudent person will keep quite without issuing reply to the legal notice, if he is not liable to pay such amount. Also while going through cross-examination of prime witness when nothing was elicited from him so as to disbelieve the case of the complainant and to accept the contention of accused. The complainant’s version was believed to have strength in it. And the Non- reply was deemed to have corroborated other evidences.
It is no doubt true that by the mere non-reply itself, it cannot be said that the defendant had admitted the claim of the plaintiff, but however, the said aspect also can be taken into consideration.Section 5 of the Indian Evidence Act talks about the same as evidence may be given of facts in issue as well as relevant facts, since non-reply could be proved to be so connected with a fact in issue as to form part of the same transaction .
CONCLUSION
Despite of the fact that the non reply of a legal notice is not a substantive evidence in itself to establish the guilt of a person, not is a punishable offence, however, it is admissible in the court for corroboration with other evidences to establish the chain of circumstances and hence it is prudent to reply to alegal notice within the prescribed time.
“Article by Ms Damini Srestha under internship of Adv Shankarlal Raheja
The Views herein are personal and while careful attention has been given to ensure that the information is accurate and assume no liability or responsibility for any reliance thereon. This article is merely information and knowledge sharing activity and is not a substitute to legal advice. We shall not be liable for any loss or damage caused due to any reliance thereof”.