Civil Procedure Code (Amendment) Act 2017 · As enacted
12. Insertion of new section 151A in the principal enactment
Official English translation. Where it differs from the Sinhala or Tamil text, the Act itself says which text prevails.
Official translationFrom Department of Government Printing, unchanged
The following new section is hereby inserted immediately after section 151 of the principal enactment and shall have effect as section 151A of that enactment:-
151A. (1) Notwithstanding the provisions of section 151, the court may, on its own motion or at the request of one of the parties to the action, order that an affidavit be substituted for an oral examination in chief of a witness and direct the party calling such witness to tender such affidavit on a date fixed by the court which date shall be at least one month prior to the date of trial, to enable the opposite party to prepare for the trial.
Where an order is made by the court under subsection (1), the party who is responsible for tendering the affidavit shall tender it together with the documents referred to therein, to the Registrar of the court with the proof of service of a copy of the affidavit with copies of all documents of the opposite party.
On the date of the trial, the party tendering the affidavit shall produce the affidavit through the witness who has affirmed to or sworn to it, including all documents referred therein. The opposite party is entitled to object to its being received, either on the inadmissibility of such evidence or a part of the evidence or on the inadmissibility or
“Affidavit may be substituted.
authenticity of any documents annexed to such affidavit. In such event, the court may make a ruling on such objection, prior to the witness being cross examined by the opposite party:
Provided that, the court may, in appropriate circumstances, permit the leading of oral evidences, in addition to the evidence contained in the affidavit.
If an affidavit contains evidence of matters of hearsay or any matter which is scandalous, the court may order deletion of such matters and may proceed with the rest of the matters in the affidavit or may order the party who filed such affidavit to tender a fresh admissible affidavit and the party filing such inadmissible affidavit shall be liable to the payment of costs.”.