21. Service of notice and process issued by the Bench
(1) Any notice or process to be issued by the Bench may be served by any of the following modes directed by the Bench:
(i) service by the party itself;
(ii) by hand delivery (dasti) through a messenger of the Office of the Bench;
(iii) under certificate of posting;
(iv) by registered post with acknowledgement due if so required by an order of the Bench;
(v) where the Central Government is a party, through the Secretary of the concerned Ministry or Department or through Branch Secretariat of the Ministry of Law or through Standing Counsel of the Central Government;
(vi) where the State Government is a party, through the Chief Secretary or the Standing Counsel of the State Government.
(2) Where a notice is required to be served on a company, it shall be served in the manner specified in section 51 or, in the case of a foreign company, in the manner specified in section 596, and may also be served in such other manner as the Secretary or the Bench Officer may direct.
(3) Save as otherwise provided in sub-regulation (2), notices and other documents, which are required to be served on any person, other than a company, shall be served by delivering or tendering a copy thereof to such person or his authorized representative, where he appears by such representative or by prepaid registered post, acknowledgement due, addressed to the last-known address of such person.
(4) Where a notice is served by the registered post, the Secretary or Bench Officer may, if the acknowledgement is not received, determine the question as to the sufficiency of the service of the notice.
(5) Where the notice sent by registered post is returned by the post office with the remarks “refused”, the notice may be presumed to have been duly served.
(6) Every notice, of the petition or reference issued by the Bench shall, unless otherwise ordered, be accompanied by a copy of the petition or reference, as the case may be.
(7) Notwithstanding anything contained in sub-regulations (1) to (6), where, for any reason whatsoever, it is not reasonably practicable to serve notice of petition on all the respondents, the notice may be served by public advertisement., as the Bench may in each case direct 16[***].
(8) The Bench shall, in such cases, determine who shall bear the cost of the public advertisement.
