IMPORTANT POINT
Amendment of plaint cannot be declined simply because the case would be transferred to High Court as per pecuniary jurisdiction.

JUDGMENT

ANIL R. DAVE, J.

Leave granted.

1. The appellant, the original plaintiff has been aggrieved by the Judgment delivered in Writ Petition No.12099 of 2013 dated 10th March, 2014 by the High Court of Judicature at Bombay.

2. The facts giving rise to the present litigation in a nutshell are as under:

The appellant, who has been described as a plaintiff hereinafter, filed a suit against the present respondent, who has been hereinafter described as a defendant, for specific performance of a contract in relation to the suit property. The suit property was initially valued at Rs.13,50,000/- (Rupees Thirteen lacs and fifty thousand only). The plaintiff, thereafter, realized that market value of the property in question was around Rs.1,20,00,000/- (Rupees One Crore and Twenty lacs only) and therefore, filed an application for amending the plaint. The said application for amendment was rejected by the trial court and thereafter, the aforestated writ petition was filed by the plaintiff challenging the order rejecting the amendment application. The said petition has also been dismissed and therefore, the plaintiff has approached this Court and prayed that the impugned judgment confirming the order rejecting the amendment of the plaint be set aside and the plaintiff be permitted to amend the plaint so as to state correct value of the property in question, which is Rs.1,20,00,000/-.

3. The learned counsel appearing for the appellant-plaintiff had submitted that the amendment application had been rejected by the trial court for the reason that the said amendment was made at a belated stage and by virtue of the said amendment, the suit was to be transferred to the High Court on its original side. It had been further submitted that the amendment was made in good faith and by virtue of the said amendment no harm was to be caused to the defendant and the nature of the suit was also not going to be changed. It had been further submitted that the appellant was also prepared to affix additional court fee stamp as valuation of suit was increased to Rs.1,20,00,000/-.

4. It had been also submitted by the learned counsel that in normal circumstances an amendment application is always granted unless by virtue of the amendment, nature of the suit is changed or some irreparable harm is caused to the defendant. According to him, in the instant case neither nature of the suit was changed nor was the defendant being put to any hardship.

The amendment was also not likely to cause any prejudice to the defendant. The amendment which was sought to be made was just and proper because actual market value of the said property was Rs.1,20,00,000/-. For the aforesaid reasons, it had been submitted by him that the impugned judgment confirming the order rejecting the amendment application should be set aside and the appellant should be permitted to amend the plaint.

5. On the other hand, the learned counsel appearing for the respondent- defendant had submitted that the amendment application was filed at a belated stage with an oblique motive. According to him, in pursuance of the said amendment, the suit was to be transferred to the High Court and only with an intention to see that the suit is transferred to the High Court on its original side, the plaintiff wanted to amend the plaint. It had, therefore, been submitted by him that the amendment application was rightly rejected by the trial court and the High Court had rightly confirmed the said order.

6. We have heard the learned counsel and have also considered the facts of the case.

7. In our opinion, as per the provisions of Order 6 Rule 17 of the Civil Procedure Code, the amendment application should be normally granted unless by virtue of the amendment nature of the suit is changed or some prejudice is caused to the defendant. In the instant case, the nature of the suit was not to be changed by virtue of granting the amendment application because the suit was for specific performance and initially the property had be