Case Comment: North East Organized Floritech (P) Ltd. V. M.V. CMA CGM Cendrillon
- IJLLR Journal
- Oct 15
- 2 min read
Kali Shukla, NALSAR University of Law, Hyderabad
Introduction
An indispensable element in the attempt to achieve natural justice is that of giving both sides a chance to present their case. Resultantly, summons are a crucial step of the judicial process. As laid down in Halsbury's Laws of India, service of summons on the defendant is of prime importance, as it is intended to inform him of the institution of the suit and to extend an opportunity to resist the same. Within the domestic law of India, summons fall under Order V of the Code of Civil Procedure (“CPC”) – Issue and Service of Summons.
However, in an increasingly globalized world where commercial disputes are no longer contained by man-made boundaries of modern-day nation states, there is a need for a statute governing international procedural conflict. This need is met by the Convention on The Service Abroad of Judicial and Extra Judicial Documents in Civil or Commercial matters, (“Hague Convention”). Given the characteristic of sovereignty of all states combined with the desire to encourage global cooperation and trade, there are guidelines for summons under Order V Rule 25 of the CPC – Service where defendant resides out of India and has no agent, Rule 26 – Service in foreign territory through Political Agent, and Rule 26(A) – Summonses to be sent to officer to foreign countries. Within the Hague Convention, one finds guidelines for Summons laid down in Article 10, 15, and 16. The application of law is found in an intersection of the Code of Civil Procedure and the Hague Convention.
A necessary trait of every justice system is efficiency. However, with increasingly improved methods of communication, there can be a conflict between efficiency and procedure. The service of summons is an ideal judicial procedure to exemplify this conflict, one that courts are often faced with, such as the Bombay High Court in the case of North East Organized Floritech (P) Ltd. v. M.V. CMA CGM Cendrillon, 2023. Through the facts and position laid down in this case, as well as position and obiter in other related cases, this paper will explore how courts have struck a delicate balance between procedural fairness and substantive justice, both in the domestic context and particularly in international cases.
