IN THE HIGH COURT OF HIMACHAL PRADESH, SHIMLA. CMPMO No. 564 of 2025 Decided on: 22.09.2025 ____________________________________________________ Raman Khanna ……….. petitioner Versus Prabhat Khanna and others ……….respondents ____________________________________________________ Coram: Hon'ble Mr. Justice Bipin Chander Negi, Judge Whether approved for reporting? 1 For the petitioner : Mr. Sumit Sood, Advocate. For the respondents : Nemo. ____________________________________________________ Bipin Chander Negi, Judge (oral) The present petition has been preferred feeling aggrieved by order dated 25.8.2025 (Annexure P-10), whereby right to file reply of the present petitioner to an application under Section 151 of the Code of Civil Procedure has been closed. 2. Heard counsel for the petitioner. Perused the impugned order and the order sheets appended from page Nos. 147 to 153 of the paper book. 3. The application in the case at hand to which a reply was to be filed by the present petitioner was filed on 28.4.2025, time was afforded to the parties to the lis to file reply on 29.5.2025. Since no reply was filed, further time was extended till 28.6.2025. Further opportunities to file reply were granted on 1 Whether the reporters of the local papers may be allowed to see the judgment? 2 24.7.2025 & 7.8.2025. In terms of the order dated 7.8.2025, time to file reply was granted as an exceptional opportunity. Since no reply was filed on 25.8.2025, therefore, the Court was left with no other option but to close the right of the petitioner to file reply. 4. The application to which right to file reply has been closed, is appended as Annexure P-8/A of the paper book. The same is an application for removal of the present petitioner as a receiver in the case at hand, wherein serious allegations have been made in the application against the applicants/respondents. 5. Trial is a search of truth on presentation of facts. This purpose is succinctly captured in the following terms in American Jurisprudence, Second Edition, 2007: “This purpose of trial is to determine the validity of the allegations. The objective is to secure a fair and impartial administration of justice between the parties to the litigation and not the achievement of a hearing wholly free from errors. Once a civil action has been instituted and issue is joined upon the pleadings, there must be a trial on the issue before a judgment may be rendered. Trial is not a contest between lawyers but a presentation of facts to which the law may be applied to resolve the issues between the parties and to determine their rights. It is also not a sport; it is an inquiry into the truth, in which the general public has an interest” 6. Procedure is a handmaid of justice. The same should not be made a tool to deny justice or to defeat substantive rights. Besides though the culture of seeking unnecessarily adjournments is to be deprecated, yet keeping in view the facts 3 and circumstances of the case at hand and in the interest of justice, I allow the present petition subject to the petitioner depositing costs of Rs.25,000/- in the “Chief Justice Disaster Relief Fund 2025, Bank Name: UCO Bank, Account No. 18330110060070, IFSC Code: UCBA0001833, Branch: High Court Complex, Shimla”, receipt thereof be produced before the learned trial Court on the date fixed for appearance therein.Reply be filed on or before 26th September, 2025, on which date, the petitioner shall appear before the court below. Reply shall be taken on record after proof of payment of costs imposed. 7. In view of the aforesaid, petition stands disposed of so also, the pending miscellaneous, applications, if any. (Bipin Chander Negi) Judge September 22, 2025 tarun