Consolidated suits and prior evidence orders must guide requests for further cross-examination; ignoring them can vitiate refusal of relief.

When suits concerning the same property are consolidated, any request for further cross-examination of a witness must be considered in light of the consolidation order and any clarification on how prior evidence is to be treated. The courts below failed to properly appreciate those material orders, so the refusal of further opportunity to cross-examine PW-1 could not stand. The larger question on recalling a witness under Order 18 Rule 17 CPC was left undecided because the case turned on the effect of the consolidation directions. The impugned order was set aside and the matter restored for expeditious disposal of the consolidated suits.

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Issues: Whether the impugned order declining relief in relation to further cross-examination of PW-1 after consolidation of suits could be sustained in view of the earlier consolidation and evidence orders.

Analysis: The suits concerning the same property had been consolidated, and the record showed that the earlier evidence in one suit had already been treated as part of the consolidated proceedings. The application seeking further opportunity to cross-examine PW-1 had to be examined in that context. The relevant consolidation order and the later clarification regarding treatment of past evidence were material, but those aspects were not properly appreciated by the courts below. In view of that omission, it was unnecessary to decide the larger question regarding the permissibility of recalling a witness under Order 18 Rule 17 of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908.

Conclusion: The impugned order was unsustainable and was set aside; the appeal was allowed.

Final Conclusion: The matter was restored to the extent necessary for an expeditious disposal of the consolidated suits by the trial court.

Ratio Decidendi: When suits are consolidated and the governing consolidation orders materially affect the treatment of prior evidence, the court must decide any request for further cross-examination or recall of a witness in the light of those orders and cannot ignore them.

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