IN THE HIGH COURT OF JAMMU AND KASHMIR AT SRINAGAR
R.P. Sethi, J.
Manzoor Ahmad Pampori - Appellant
Versus
Mohd. Sultan Pampori - Respondent
Civil Revision No. 68/1984
Decided On : 08 October, 1987
CIVIL PROCEDURE CODE, 1908 - ORDER 6 RULE 17 - AMENDMENT OF PLAINT - SUIT FOR INJUNCTION - AMENDMENT TO INCLUDE PRAYER FOR POSSESSION - PERMISSIBLE - CIRCUMSTANCES.
Fact of the Case:
Plaintiff filed a suit for injunction restraining defendants from interfering with their possession of the suit property. During the pendency of the suit, defendants allegedly dispossessed the plaintiff. Plaintiff filed an application to amend the plaint to include a prayer for possession.
Finding of the Court:
The court held that the amendment was permissible as it did not change the cause of action or the nature of the suit. The court also noted that the plaintiff had filed the application for amendment promptly after being dispossessed and that the defendants would not be prejudiced by the amendment.
Issues: Whether the plaintiff could amend the plaint to include a prayer for possession after being dispossessed during the pendency of the suit.
Ratio Decidendi: The court held that the amendment was permissible under Order 6 Rule 17 of the Civil Procedure Code, 1908. The court noted that the purpose of the rule is to allow parties to alter or amend their pleadings in order to determine the real controversy in the suit. The court also noted that the amendment did not change the cause of action or the nature of the suit, and that the defendants would not be prejudiced by the amendment.
Final Decision: The court allowed the plaintiff's application to amend the plaint.
2. The trial court held that the application was not bonafide, proposed amendment would prejudice the defendants by changing the nature of the suit and on the basis of the judgment produced by the counsel of the defendants, ultimately dismissed the application Aggrieved by order of the application, the present revision petition has been filed before this court
3. I have heard the learned counsel for the parties and have perused the record.
4. The purpose and object of 0.6 R. 17 CPC is to allow either party to alter or amend his pleadings in such manner and on such terms as may be just. The power to allow the amendment is wide and can be exercised at any stage of the proceedings in the interest of justice on the basis of guidelines laid down by various High Courts and the Hon™ble Supreme Court of India. It was held in AIR 1967 SC 96, AIR 1974 SC 1126, AIR 1976 SC 484, that the object of the rule was to decide the rights of the parties and not to punish them for their mistakes, by allowing the amendment of the pleadings in the appropriate cases. The exercise of such far-reaching discretionary power is governed by judicial considerations and wider the discretion, greater has to be the care circumspection on the part of the court. On the basis of the different judgments it is settled that the following principles should be kept in mind in dealing with the applications for amendment of the pleadings :
i) All amendments should be allowed which are necessary for determination of the real contoversery in the suit;
ii) the proposed amendment should not alter and be a substitute of the cause of action on the basis of which the original list was raised;
iii) inconsistent and contradictory allegations in negation to the admitted position of facts or mutually destructive allegations of facts should not be allowed to be incorporated by means of amendment:
iv) proposed amendments should not cause prejudice to the other side which cannot be compensated by means of costs;
v) amendment of a claim or relief barred by time should not be allowed;
vi) no amendment should be allowed which amounts to or results in defeating a legal right a accrued to the opposite party on account of lapse of time;
vii) no party should suffer on account of the technicalities of law and the amendments should be allowed to minimize the litigation between the parties;
viii) the delay in filing the petitions for amendment of the pleadings should be properly compensated by costs;
ix) error or mistake which if not fraudulent should not be made on ground for rejecting the application for amendments of pleadings,
5. It is true that amendment cannot be claimed as a matter of right and under all circumstances. The circumstances under which the prayer for amendme
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