The Rajasthan High Court has affirmed that filing false or forged documents in court proceedings constitutes a fraud on the court, and upheld a lower court’s direction to hold an enquiry into the genuineness of an allegedly forged sale deed. The case concerned a petitioner’s suit for specific performance of a sale agreement dated 2000. One of the witnesses produced on record testified that the purported executants to the agreement had died in 1995 and 1990 respectively — years before the agreement was allegedly executed. On the basis of that testimony, the district judge had ordered an inquiry into the authenticity of the sale agreement.
When the petitioner challenged this direction calling for the enquiry, the High Court rejected the challenge. The bench observed that the fundamental purpose of any trial is to discover the truth and that the judicial system exists to serve that quest for truth. The Court emphasized that if a litigant files fabricated or false documents, the integrity of the entire judicial process is at stake. It held that whenever the record indicates a reasonable possibility that a document may be forged or fabricated, the court is duty‑bound to probe the matter and explore all available options to ascertain the truth.
The Court made clear that producing forged or false documents cannot be permitted — it amounts to playing a fraud on the court, potentially inviting serious consequences for the party responsible. It stated that, in such a scenario, a thorough enquiry into the document’s authenticity is necessary, irrespective of how late in the judicial proceedings the issue arises.
Rejecting the petitioner’s argument that without concrete documentary proof the order for enquiry was unwarranted, the High Court held that even witness testimony raising doubt about the existence or execution of a document is sufficient ground for initiating an enquiry. In other words, the court does not need irrefutable evidence at the outset; a credible claim of forgery requires that the court act to examine the matter.
Accordingly, the High Court dismissed the petition challenging the enquiry order and upheld the direction for the district court to proceed with the investigation into the genuineness of the challenged sale deed.
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