Substituted service and unclaimed postal notice support a presumption of due service, validating ex parte proceedings.

Substituted service by newspaper publication, together with a properly addressed postal packet returned unclaimed, was sufficient to establish due service on the defendant. The court applied the presumption of service under Section 27 of the General Clauses Act, 1897 and Section 114 of the Evidence Act, 1872, and treated deliberate non-claim after intimation as incapable of defeating service. Service was therefore held valid and properly effected, justifying further ex parte proceedings.

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Issues: Whether service on the defendant was duly effected by substituted service at one address and by the return of a postal packet marked unclaimed at another address, so as to justify proceeding ex parte.

Analysis: The addresses given for service were multiple, and service by newspaper publication at Gurgaon had already been authorised and effected. A packet sent through the Sheriff's office to the Navi Mumbai address was returned unclaimed. An unclaimed postal article, when properly addressed and despatched, raises the presumption of due service under Section 27 of the General Clauses Act, 1897 and Section 114 of the Evidence Act, 1872. The service position was reinforced by prior authority recognising that a party cannot defeat service by deliberately refusing to claim a packet after intimation.

Conclusion: Service on the defendant was held to be valid and properly effected.

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