Parties can alter or amend their pleadings at any stage of the proceedings under Order VI Rule 17 of the Code of Civil Procedure.

( 1 ) BY this order, I propose to dispose of the application filed by the plaintiff under Order VI Rule 17 of the Code of Civil Procedure. The suit which is filed by the plaintiff is one under order XXXVII of the Code of Civil Procedure being filed as a summary suit and praying for a decree for recovery of an amount of Rs. 2,20,47,516/- alongwith pendente lite and future interest and costs of the suit. The statutory notices were issued upon which the defendants entered appearance in accordance with the provisions of the Code of Civil Procedure. Thereafter the plaintiff took out summons for judgment also in statutory form which were served on the defendants and on service thereof the defendants filed applications seeking for leave to defend the suit. In the said applications filed by the defendants seeking for leave to defend, an objection is raised that the suit filed by the plaintiff is not maintainable as nowhere in the plaint it was disclosed as to how Mr. Vijay Kumar Dave had been authorised to sign, verify the plaint and institute the suit. It was submitted that no document has been filed on record and no statement has been made in the plaint disclosing such facts nor any resolution has been filed on record. Accordingly, a preliminary objection was raised and a prayer was made for rejection of the plaint on the ground that the suit has not been signed, verified and instituted by an authorised agent of the plaintiff.

( 2 ) AFTER service of the copy of the said application on the plaintiff, the plaintiff filed an application under Order VI Rule 17 of the CPC praying for amendment of the plaint and contending, inter alia, that the plaintiff in the present suit is a Government of India Undertaking and, therefore, the plaint has been duly signed and verified by the duly appointed authorised representative of the company Mr. Vijay Kumar Dave. It was also contended that as an oversight/technical error in drafting, the aforesaid fact of Mr. Vijay Kumar Dave being duly authorised by the plaintiff company to sign and verify the plaint was not stated in the plaint as required by Order VI Rule 14 CPC. It was also stated that the plaintiff by a Board Resolution/general Power of Attorney have authorised Mr. Vijay Kumar Dave to sign and verify the suit and that only after such authorisation Mr. Vijay Kumar Dave has signed and verified the plaint. In the light of the aforesaid statement, amendment of the plaint is sought for by the plaintiff to the following effect :-

"in Para 2 of the plaint, the following may be added:- shri Vijay Kumar Dave, Chief Operations Manager (NR), SAIL has been authorised by a General Power of Attorney dated 19. 7. 1994 to sign, verify and institute the present Suit on behalf of the Plaintiff Company. "

( 3 ) SINCE an application praying for amendment is filed, it was decided that the said application would be taken up initially and only after an appropriate order is passed on the said application, the application filed by the defendants seeking for leave to defend would be taken up for consideration. Accordingly, I heard the learned counsel appearing for the plaintiff as also counsel appearing for the defendants at length on the aforesaid application. Counsel appearing for the plaintiff, during the course of his submissions, submitted that the aforesaid amendment has become necessary as an oversight/technical error/omission crept in in the plaint. It is also submitted that the amendment as sought for is innocuous in nature and is purely a technical defect and would not in any manner change the nature, character and basis of the suit. It was also submitted by him that no prejudice or hardship would be caused to the defendants in case the aforesaid proposed amendment is allowed to be carried out in the present suit. Counsel appearing for the defendants, however, submitted that no such amendment could be allowed to be made in the plaint so long the application filed by the defendants seeking