The court emphasized that an amendment should not unjustly increase the defendant's liability and highlighted the court's powers to grant interest to alleviate delay in the decision.

( 1 ) THE present application has been filed by the plaintiff under Order VI, Rule 17 for the amendment of the plaint. It has been averred and argued that the entire transaction out of which the suit arises was in US dollars and that consequent upon the decline of the Indian rupee against the US dollar "it is necessary to amend the plaint to include the value of amounts to be recovered in US dollars". It is further submitted that the amendment is necessary because of the time being taken by this Court for the trial of the suit and that no prejudice would be caused to the defendant by permitting the proposed amendment.

( 2 ) THE application has been vehemently opposed by Mr. V. P. Singh, learned Senior Counsel for defendant No. 1. Apart from various objections including that the relief which is now sought to be introduced by way of amendment is palpably beyond the period prescribed under the Limitation Act, he has submitted that the entire controversy has been laid to rest by a recent decision of the Division Bench in the case of Janet Anne Woolqar James and Ors. v. Jaypee Hotel Ltd. , 2000 (52) DRJ 300=83 (2000) DLT 277 (DB ). This decision is predicated on the decision of the Supreme Court in Forasol s v. Oil and Natural Gas Commission, AIR 1984 SC 241, on which decision the plaintiff/applicant has also placed reliance.

( 3 ) IN Forasol s case (supra), the hon ble Supreme Court had observed as under:

"in such a suit, the plaintiff, who has not received the amount due to him desires to seek the assistance of the Court to recover that amount has two courses open to him. He can either claim the amount due to him in Indian currency or in the foreign currency in which it was payable. If he chooses the first alternative he can only sue for that amount as converted into Indian rupees and his prayer in the plaint can only be for a sum of Indian currency. For this purpose the plaintiff would have to convert the foreign currency amount due to him into Indian rupees. He can do so either at the rate of exchange prevailing on the date when the amount become payable for he was entitled to receive the amount on that date or, at his option, at the rate of exchange prevailing on the date of the riling of the suit because that is the date on which he is seeking the assistance of the Court for recovering the amount due to him. In either event, the valuation of the suit for the purposes of Court fees and the pecuniary limit of the jurisdiction of the Court will be the amount in Indian currency claimed in the suit. The plaintiff may, however, choose the second course open to him and claim in foreign currency the amount due to him: In such a suit the proper prayer for the plaintiff to make in his plaint would be for a decree that the defendant to pay to him the foreign currency sum claimed in the plaint subject to the permission of the concerned Authorities under the Foreign Exchange Regulation Act, 1973 being granted and that in the event of the foreign exchange Authorities not granting the requisite permission or the defendant not wanting to make payment in foreign currency even though such permission has been granted or the defendant not making payment in foreign currency or in Indian rupees, whether such permission has been granted or not the defendant do pay to the plaintiff the rupee equivalent of the foreign currency sum claimed at the rate of exchange prevailing on the date of the judgment. For the purposes of Court fee and jurisdiction the plaintiff should, however, value his claim in the suit by converting the foreign currency sum claimed by him into Indian rupees at the rate of exchange prevailing on the date of the filing of the suit or the date nearest or most nearly preceding such date, stating in his plaint what such rate of exchange is. He should further given an undertaking in the plaint that he would make good the deficiency in the Court fees, if any, if at the date of the judgment, at the rate of exchange then