13.
| (1) Where a request is made to the Secretary by or on behalf of a court in a specified country to obtain the evidence of a person residing in Sri Lanka, relating to matters connected with an application to which section 3 of this Act applies, the Secretary shall request such court within whose jurisdiction such person resides, to take the evidence of that person relating to such matters connected with that application as may be specified in the request. |
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| (2) The Court by which a request under subsection (1) is received from the Secretary shall have the power to take the evidence and after giving notice to such persons of the time and place at which the evidence is to be taken, and in such manner as it thinks fit, shall take the evidence of the person named in the request relating to the matters specified therein and the evidence so taken shall be sent by the court to the court in the specified country by or on behalf of which the request referred to in subsection (1) was made. |
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| (3) If the summons to appear before court, within whose jurisdiction the person whose evidence is to be obtained resides, cannot be duly served on such person, the Registrar of the Court shall, return the application making such request to the Secretary, with a statement that such person is not residing within the jurisdiction of that court and the whereabouts of the person are not known. The Secretary shall thereupon return the documents connected with the request made, to the court in the specified country by or on behalf of which such request was made under subsection (1). |
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| (4) Where any person, not being the person by whom the application mentioned in subsection (1) of section 3 was made, is required by virtue of this section to give evidence before a court in Sri Lanka, the court may order that there shall be paid out of moneys provided by the State, such sums as appear to the court to be reasonably sufficient to compensate that person for the expense, trouble or loss of time properly incurred in, or incidental to, this attendance. |
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| (5) The provisions of Chapters V and VI of the Code of Criminal Procedure Act, No. 15 of 1979 which provide for compelling the attendance of witnesses and other related matters, shall apply in relation to a Magistrates Court to which a request under subsection (1) is made, as if the application to which the request relates were a complaint to be heard by that Court. |
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Sri Lanka Consolidated Acts