In short. Recovery suits are won and lost on paper. Your documents have to show four things: what the buyer agreed to, that you delivered or did the work, how much is still owed, and that you asked for it. In a commercial suit you file all of it with the plaint. Leave something out and you'll usually be stuck without it. This list is for suppliers, service firms and lenders about to sue. A proper file takes two to four weeks to put together. So open your ledger and invoices this week.
Is this your situation?
- Your lawyer asked for "all the documents" against a customer who owes you, and you've no idea what actually counts.
- Nobody ever signed an agreement. There are purchase orders, a pile of invoices, and a long WhatsApp thread with the buyer's purchase manager.
- The challans are at the warehouse, the lorry receipts are with the transporter, and accounts has the rest. Nobody has the full set.
- The buyer deducted TDS on your bills, and once even confirmed the balance on email. Does that count for anything?
- You'd like to go the summary suit route and want to know which papers make it possible.
- Notice sent, Section 12A mediation done, no money. The plaint is next.
- You're suing as a partnership firm, an LLP or a company, and you're not sure what authority papers the court will ask for.
The quick version: four things to prove, and everything goes in on day one
The papers for a recovery suit sort into four piles. One is the contract, meaning what the defendant agreed to buy or take, and at what price. Two is performance: proof you delivered the goods, did the job or handed over the loan. Three is the amount. That's your invoices, ledger and bank records showing what's still unpaid. Four is the demand, which covers your legal notice, any reply the defendant sent and the Section 12A mediation report. Then you add the papers that show who you are and who's allowed to sign for you.
In a commercial suit, when you file matters as much as what you file. Order XI of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 (CPC), as it applies to commercial disputes, makes the plaintiff file a list of every document in its power, possession, control or custody along with the plaint, with copies. That includes the ones that hurt you. If you didn't disclose a document, you can't lean on it later unless the court gives leave after you show reasonable cause. Courts don't hand that out easily.
So collect it all before filing. Sort it. Work out what each piece proves. When Advocate B.K. Singh opens a recovery file for the first time, he spends less time on the invoices than on the gaps between them: the delivery proof that isn't there, the purchase order nobody signed, the month where the ledger and the bank statement don't agree. That's where defences get built.
The rules on documents you'll run into
Order XI Rule 1, CPC (commercial suits)
With the plaint goes a list of every document in the plaintiff's power, possession, control or custody that relates to the suit, good or bad for you, and a declaration on oath that nothing's been held back. If you're filing in a hurry, you can ask for leave to file more documents within 30 days of filing. Anything you didn't disclose can't be relied on later without leave. Inspection, and the admission and denial stage that comes after it, are covered on our document disclosure and inspection page.
Order VI Rule 15A, CPC (commercial suits)
Each pleading in a commercial suit has to carry a statement of truth, in the form given in the Appendix to the Schedule of the Commercial Courts Act. Someone who actually knows the facts signs it. And they can be held to it.
Section 63, Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, 2023
From 1 July 2024, you prove electronic records (emails, WhatsApp chats, PDF invoices, extracts from Tally or other accounting software) with a certificate under Section 63, in the form in the Schedule to the Adhiniyam. It took the place of the old Section 65B certificate under the Indian Evidence Act.
Section 12A, Commercial Courts Act, 2015, and Section 69, Partnership Act, 1932
Pre-institution mediation is compulsory unless the suit asks for urgent interim relief. The mediator's report should go in with the plaint. A different point, but just as fatal: an unregistered partnership firm can't sue an outsider to enforce a contract. A firm suing has to show it's registered with the Registrar of Firms.
Proving the contract: what was actually agreed
A signed agreement is the strongest proof you can have. Most businesses don't have one. That's fine, because courts accept contracts made in other ways: a buyer's purchase order that both sides acted on, a quotation accepted on email, a work order, a rate list agreed over WhatsApp, or years of dealing on the same terms. File every paper that shows the terms. Not just the one you think wins the case.
Read them for the price, the quantity or scope, the payment terms, any interest clause, any jurisdiction or arbitration clause, and the names of the parties. An arbitration clause changes things straight away. If the defendant applies under Section 8 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996, the court will send the dispute to arbitration and your suit stops there. A jurisdiction clause tells you which court to walk into.
Look at the stamp on any signed agreement. If it needed stamping under the state stamp law and wasn't stamped, it can be kept out of evidence until the deficit duty and penalty are paid. You can fix it. It just costs time and money. Better you find out now than when the other side raises it in court.
Proving you delivered, or did the work
"We never got the goods." "Half of it came." "It was defective." One of these is usually the first thing a defendant says, and the answer has to come from papers made at the time of supply. For goods, that's delivery challans signed or stamped at the buyer's end, e-way bills, lorry receipts or courier records, the buyer's own goods receipt notes, and gate entry records if you can get them. A challan signed by a named person at the buyer's site is worth far more than an unsigned copy sitting in your own file.
Services are messier. Pull together sign-off emails, completion or acceptance certificates, timesheets, delivery reports, UAT records if it's software, and any message where the client used the work or said it was good. Silence helps too. If the contract gave the client a window to object and nothing came, your email timeline will show that.
For loans and advances, the bank transfer is the proof, along with the loan agreement or letter setting out the terms and any acknowledgment of the debt. Cash loans are much harder. For bigger sums they also raise tax questions of their own. That situation is dealt with on our page about getting back a loan you gave another business.
Proving the amount: ledgers, bank records, tax filings
Everything hangs on your statement of account. It should list each invoice, each payment, any credit notes and the running balance. And it has to match the figure in the plaint exactly. Entries in books kept in the regular course of business are relevant evidence, but they can't make the defendant liable on their own. They need invoices, delivery proof and bank records behind them.
Tax records are often what persuades the court most, because the defendant can't easily say it never saw them. Your GSTR-1 returns show the invoices you reported, and the buyer's auto-generated input tax credit statement will normally have picked them up. If the buyer deducted TDS on your bills, that shows in your tax credit statement, Form 26AS or the Annual Information Statement. It's hard for a buyer to say it never accepted an invoice it deducted tax on.
Get bank statements for the whole period you dealt with them. Mark every payment that came in. Link each one to an invoice where the buyer said which invoice it was paying. Where it didn't say, Sections 59 to 61 of the Indian Contract Act, 1872 let you appropriate the payment yourself, and your ledger should show how you did it. Getting this right also affects the interest figure, as our guide on how much interest you can claim explains.
Acknowledgments, part payments and the time limit
Under the Limitation Act, 1963, most money claims must be filed within three years, usually counted from the date each payment fell due. Papers that restart that clock are some of the most valuable in the whole file. A written acknowledgment of the debt, signed by the defendant before time runs out, starts a fresh three years under Section 18. A part payment made within the period does the same under Section 19, if it's shown in writing, such as a bank transfer or a receipt.
Dig out balance confirmation letters. Emails admitting the dues or asking for time. Signed reconciliations, and any payment plan the defendant offered. Even a line saying "we'll clear it next month" can help, as long as it's in writing and signed or sent by someone with authority. Our guide on the time limit for recovering unpaid dues shows how these are counted.
Emails, WhatsApp and other electronic records
These days most of the evidence is electronic. Emails, WhatsApp chats, PDF invoices, accounting software reports, e-way bills, downloads from the GST portal. All of it is proved under the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, 2023, and with printouts or copies you should file a certificate under Section 63. The certificate names the device or system, explains how the record was produced, and is signed by the person in charge of it. The form in the Schedule has one part for the party and another for an expert. Courts are still working out how strictly the expert part is needed in every case. We'd prepare both where we can.
Keep the originals. Don't delete chats, and don't change phones without a proper backup. Export the whole WhatsApp chat instead of relying on cropped screenshots. Defendants love attacking screenshots as selective. A full export, with the phone or mail account still there for inspection, ends that argument.
Before the suit: the notice and the mediation report
You don't have to send a legal notice before every civil suit. In a recovery case, though, it earns its place. It fixes the date of demand, which can matter for interest under the Interest Act, 1978, and it often flushes out the defendant's defence early. File the notice, the postal or courier receipts, the tracking report or acknowledgment card, and any reply. More on our page about the legal notice for recovery of business dues.
If your commercial suit doesn't ask for urgent interim relief, Section 12A mediation comes first. In Delhi, for district court matters it usually runs through the District Legal Services Authority, and for High Court matters through the Delhi High Court's legal services arm. The mediator's report goes in with the plaint, whether it says the mediation failed or that the defendant never showed up. Courts have thrown out plaints filed without it. Process and timelines are on the pre-institution mediation page.
Who's suing and who signs: party and authority papers
A company files a certified copy of the board resolution, or a valid authority letter that flows from it, naming the person who'll sign the plaint, the statement of truth and the vakalatnama, and who'll give evidence. Skip it and the defendant will say the suit wasn't properly instituted. Keep the certificate of incorporation and the company master data handy for the cause title.
A partnership firm files its certificate from the Registrar of Firms, and checks that the people suing appear as partners in the register. A proprietorship sues in the proprietor's own name, trading as the business name, with GST registration or some other proof of the business. An LLP files its incorporation certificate and an authorisation from the designated partners. If you're a micro or small enterprise claiming MSMED interest, add your Udyam registration certificate. The date on it decides which supplies carry that interest.
On the other side, get the defendant's correct legal name, registered office, GSTIN and, for a company, its corporate identity number. Sue the wrong entity (a sister concern, say, or a brand name) and you'll lose months.
The full checklist for a recovery suit
- The signed agreement if there is one, plus purchase orders, work orders, quotations and the emails accepting them
- Proof that stamp duty was paid, if the agreement needed it
- Your tax invoices, with dates, amounts and payment terms on them
- Delivery challans, e-way bills, lorry receipts, goods receipt notes or completion certificates
- For services: sign-offs, acceptance emails, timesheets or testing reports
- A ledger or statement of account that matches the plaint figure to the rupee
- Bank statements for the whole time you dealt with them
- GSTR-1 extracts for the invoices, and TDS entries from Form 26AS or the Annual Information Statement
- Anything where the defendant confirmed the balance, admitted the debt or offered a payment plan
- Full exports of emails and WhatsApp chats, with a Section 63 certificate
- The legal notice, postal or courier proof, tracking report and whatever reply came
- The Section 12A mediation report (or why you didn't need one)
- Board resolution or authority letter, or the partnership registration certificate, whichever applies
- Udyam registration certificate if you're an MSME supplier
- The original cheque and the bank's return memo, if a cheque bounced
- Your interest working and court fee calculation
- The defendant's correct legal name, address, GSTIN and CIN
Putting the document file together, step by step
This is roughly how we build a recovery file with a client. Your accounts team does most of the legwork. Our job is to check what each paper proves.
Start with the ledger
Export the defendant's full ledger from your accounting software and reconcile it against the bank statements. Fix any mismatch now. The defendant will find it if you don't.
Go invoice by invoice
For every unpaid invoice, find the purchase order or contract behind it, the delivery or acceptance proof, and the GST and TDS record. Clip them together, one bundle per invoice. You'll spot the missing pieces fast.
Pull the correspondence
Search email and WhatsApp for the defendant's name, the project and the amounts. You're looking for any admission, complaint, promise to pay or request for time. Export whole threads. Single messages won't do.
Gather the pre-suit papers
Put the legal notice with its proof of delivery, any reply and the mediation report together. Haven't been to mediation yet? That's the next step, unless you need urgent interim relief.
Sort out authority and identity
Get the board resolution or authority letter signed and pin down the defendant's exact legal identity. If you're a firm, check the partnership registration.
Index, paginate, certify
Put the documents in date order and number every page. Prepare the Order XI list and declaration, the Section 63 certificates for electronic records, and the statement of truth.
Have your lawyer hunt for gaps and bad documents
Your lawyer should read the lot, including the papers that hurt you, and decide how the plaint will deal with them. It's much safer to disclose an awkward email and explain it than to bury it and watch the defendant produce it.
Where the claim rests on a written contract, an accepted invoice, a cheque or a promissory note, the same file can carry a summary suit under Order XXXVII. There, the defendant needs the court's leave just to defend.
How long it takes, and what it costs, from documents to filing
| Stage | Typical time | Costs apart from lawyer's fee |
|---|---|---|
| Collecting and reconciling documents | 1 to 3 weeks, depending on how tidy your records are | Your staff's time; bank charges for old statements |
| Legal notice and waiting for a reply | 15 to 30 days | Postage and courier |
| Section 12A mediation | Up to 3 months, which can go up by 2 months if both sides agree | A modest fee under the mediation rules, linked to claim value; check the current schedule |
| Indexing, certificates, statement of truth | About a week | Notary or oath commissioner charges; translation if a document isn't in the court's language |
| Filing the plaint | Same day to a few days, counting time to clear registry objections | Ad valorem court fee on the claim under the state's court fee law, plus process fee; our guide on court fee for a recovery suit in Delhi has the detail |
| Inspection, and admission or denial of documents | Usually 1 to 3 months after the written statement | Copying and inspection charges |
| Evidence and judgment | Often 1 to 2 years from filing | Witness expenses and certified copies |
Which court, and how your papers decide it
Your documents decide the court too. The claim value, with interest up to the date of filing, settles whether it's a commercial suit (Rs 3 lakh and above) and which level of court hears it. In Delhi, commercial suits up to Rs 2 crore go to the District Judge (Commercial Court) at Tis Hazari, Saket, Karkardooma, Rohini, Dwarka or Patiala House. Bigger ones go to the Commercial Division of the Delhi High Court. There's been a proposal since late 2025 to raise the district court limit, so check where it stands before you file. The High Court works in English. Hindi papers usually need translating.
In Uttar Pradesh and Haryana, you file in the court designated as the Commercial Court for the district, such as the ones for Ghaziabad, Gautam Buddh Nagar, Gurugram and Faridabad. Territory depends on where the defendant lives or does business, or where the cause of action arose. Your purchase order, the delivery address and the place payment was due are what prove that. If the contract picks one court exclusively from among courts that would otherwise have jurisdiction, file there.
How the file changes with the kind of business you run
- Goods suppliers and traders. It all comes down to delivery proof. A challan signed at the buyer's gate, an e-way bill or a GRN beats anything in your own records.
- Service firms and agencies. Your weak spot is acceptance. Get the sign-offs, approvals and usage records together and lay out a clean timeline of the work.
- IT and software vendors. The contracts run long, with change requests and milestones. Tie each invoice to a milestone and to the client accepting it. Keep the system logs and repository records where you can reach them.
- Lenders, and businesses that paid advances. You can't do without the bank transfer and something in writing about the terms. Any acknowledgment of the debt is gold for limitation.
- Startups. Things were done informally, so most of the evidence sits in the founders' email and WhatsApp. Export it now, before people leave or phones get swapped.
- MSMEs. Put the Udyam certificate in, and make sure the acceptance dates are clear, because MSMED interest runs from them.
- Large companies. Your problem is volume and getting at records across departments. Make one person responsible for pulling from sales, logistics, finance and legal, and sort out board authority early.
Where files usually go wrong
- The ledger doesn't match the plaint. Even a small difference, and the defendant will use it to cast doubt on the whole account.
- Unsigned challans. Your own copies, with nothing from the buyer's side, don't prove much by themselves.
- Cropped screenshots. They get challenged every time. Export the full chat and file the Section 63 certificate with it.
- Hiding the awkward email. The one where you accepted a complaint or offered a discount will come out anyway. Disclose it and explain it.
- Finding the important document after filing. Now you need the court's leave. Search properly before you file.
- Suing the wrong company. Going after a brand name or a group company instead of whoever issued the purchase order means delay, and sometimes losing the suit.
- Thinking the bounced cheque is only for the criminal case. It backs a criminal complaint and a civil suit both. Keep the original safe, keep certified copies ready, and read the page on cheque bounce with civil recovery. For the criminal side under Section 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act, go to chequebouncelawyer.com.
An invented example: the goods receipt notes nobody could find
This one is made up. A Faridabad company making electrical panels supplies a Noida contractor for eighteen months against a string of purchase orders. By the end, Rs 46 lakh is outstanding. Accounts hands over invoices, the company's own copies of the delivery challans, and a ledger. Then the lawyer asks for goods receipt notes. Nobody can find a single one.
A harder look turns up three things. The transporter's lorry receipts show delivery at the contractor's site, signed by a site supervisor. The contractor deducted TDS on every invoice, and it's all there in the manufacturer's tax credit statement. And best of all, there's an email from eight months back in which the contractor's finance head sent a reconciliation confirming a balance of Rs 39 lakh. That also keeps that part of the claim comfortably within limitation.
All of it goes in with the plaint, along with the purchase orders, the full email thread and a Section 63 certificate. The contractor's written statement pleads short supply. It says nothing about the TDS or its own reconciliation. The case isn't over. But the fight is now much narrower, mostly about the last Rs 7 lakh of invoices raised after the reconciliation.
What to do this week
Export the defendant's ledger and match it against your bank statements. Make a list, invoice by invoice, with the purchase order, delivery proof and GST and TDS record next to each. Search your email and chats for any admission, complaint or promise to pay, and export the full threads. Check every date against the three-year limitation period.
Then send a legal notice if you haven't, and go to Section 12A mediation. Once the file's complete, the plaint gets drafted around it. Our page on recovering unpaid business dues through court covers the suit itself. In the recovery files Advocate B.K. Singh sees, a missing delivery proof can often be made good from tax records or transporter papers. Only if someone goes looking before the plaint is filed, though.
Want your papers checked for gaps before you send a notice or file? Share them with Advocate B.K. Singh's team through the contact page.
Frequently asked questions
What documents do I need to file a money recovery suit?
Four sets. Proof of the contract (agreement, purchase orders, emails). Proof you delivered or performed (challans, e-way bills, sign-offs). Proof of the amount due (invoices, ledger, bank statements). And proof you demanded it (legal notice and mediation report). Add authority papers like a board resolution or partnership registration. In a commercial suit, it all goes in with the plaint.
Can I file a recovery suit without a written agreement?
Yes. You can prove the contract through purchase orders, accepted quotations, emails, WhatsApp messages and how the two of you actually dealt with each other. The more papers you have from the time, the better.
Will WhatsApp chats be accepted as evidence in a recovery suit?
Yes. They're electronic records under the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, 2023. File the full chat export with a Section 63 certificate and keep the phone available. Cropped screenshots are easy to attack.
Can I add documents after filing the plaint in a commercial suit?
Only with the court's leave, and only if you show reasonable cause for not filing them earlier. In an urgent filing, you can ask for leave to file more documents within 30 days. Far safer to file everything at the start.
Is my ledger enough to prove the amount due?
No. Account book entries are relevant, but they can't make the defendant liable on their own. Back them up with invoices, delivery proof, bank records and, where you have them, the defendant's own acknowledgments or TDS deductions.
Do I need the original documents?
File copies with the plaint and keep the originals safe. The court may call for originals at inspection, at admission and denial, or during evidence. Don't part with your only original cheque or agreement without keeping certified copies.
What documents does a summary suit need?
A summary suit under Order XXXVII needs a written contract, a bill of exchange, a cheque, a promissory note or some other written basis for a liquidated debt. Invoices and delivery proof back it up. The plaint has to say no relief outside Order XXXVII is being claimed.
Does a partnership firm need to be registered to file a recovery suit?
Yes, for suits enforcing a contract against outsiders. Section 69 of the Partnership Act, 1932 bars an unregistered firm from filing one. Put the registration certificate in with the plaint.
Advocate B.K. Singh
Founder of B.K. Singh & Associates. MCA, LL.B., LL.M. More than twenty years in practice before the Supreme Court, the Delhi High Court, district and commercial courts in Delhi NCR, and tribunals.
This guide explains the law in general terms and is not legal advice. For advice on your own papers, contact the team.