CPC 1908 § Order IX, Rule 5 — Dismissal of suit where plaintiff, after summons returned unserved, fails for three

Statutory text (English)

months to apply for fresh summons.— 1[
(1) Where, after a summons has been issued to the defendant,
or to one of several defendants, and returned unserved, the plaintiff fails, for a period of three months
from the date of the return made to the Court by the officer ordinarily certifying to the Court returns
made by the serving officers, to apply for the issue of a fresh summons the Court shall make an
order that the suit be dismissed as against such defendant, unless the plaintiff has within the said period
satisfied the Court that—
(a) he has failed after using his best endeavours to discover the residence of the
defendant who has not been served, or
(b) such defendant is avoiding service of process, or
(c) there is any other sufficient cause for extending the time, in which case the Court
may extend the time for making such application for such period as it thinks fit.]

(2) In such case the plaintiff may (subject to the law of limitation) bring a fresh suit.

Source and verification

Source citation: CPC (Act V of 1908) First Schedule, Order IX, Rule 5 (APPEARANCE OF PARTIES AND CONSEQUENCE OF NON-APPEARANCE): Pakistan Code portal consolidated official PDF 'THE CODE OF CIVIL PROCEDURE, 1908' (First Schedule, Orders I-LI, pp. 58-185), p. 79, ingested 2026-09-15. Automated transcription from official source (pypdf extraction, audited artifact repair); human admin re-check required before production.

Verification status: verified · Text status: auto_transcribed_verified_source

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Historical text notes

1 historical record is linked to this section. Historical wording may be incomplete or pending verification; it is not presented as current law.

• Date not confirmed: Consolidated current text as published in the official Pakistan Code PDF (p. 79) — reflects all amendments recorded in the official footnotes up to ingest date 2026-09-15. Automated transcription; per-amendment version…

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