Construction And Development Company Ltd. And Another v. Gunasekera – sllr 2006 volume 2 page 063

In the case between Construction and Development Company Ltd. and Another (plaintiff-respondent) and Gunasekera (defendant-appellant), the court addressed whether a party’s failure to expressly deny averments in an answer constitutes an admission under the Civil Procedure Code and the Evidence Ordinance. It was held that matters not expressly admitted by a party cannot be deemed admissions, reaffirming the principle that the burden rests on the party asserting a fact to prove it. The decision relied on sections 75, 146, and 146(2) of the Civil Procedure Code and sections 58, 101, and 102 of the Evidence Ordinance, emphasizing that treating un-denied averments as admissions distorts the adversarial process and exempts the plaintiff from discharging the burden of proof. This holding ensures