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    Tanish Manuja
    Whether amendment of a plaint is permitted under O.6 R.17 before issuance of summons to a defendant?

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    Research Note

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    Tanish Manuja
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    Whether amendment of a plaint is permitted under O.6 R.17 before issuance of summons to a defendant?

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    RESEARCH NOTE

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    Whether amendment of a plaint is permitted under O.6 R.17 before issuance of summons to a defendant?

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    12 views3 pages

    Research Note

    Uploaded by

    Tanish Manuja
    Whether amendment of a plaint is permitted under O.6 R.17 before issuance of summons to a defendant?

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
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    RESEARCH NOTE

    Question: Whether amendment of a plaint is permitted under O.6 R.17 before issuance
    of summons to a defendant?

    Answer: Yes, the amendment of a plaint is permitted under O.6 R.17 before the issuance
    of summons to a defendant.

    The primary objective of allowing amendment plaints is to secure the end of justice and
    to prevent injustice to the parties. The case of Cropper v. Smith1, mentioned the relevance
    of amended plaints in conducting a fair trial. It was stated that its purpose is to determine
    the rights of the parties and not to punish the parties for their mistakes and secure the
    ends of justice.

    On the bare reading of O.6 R.172, it gives power to the civil court to allow the parties to
    file an application for the amendment of the plaint at any stage of the proceedings on
    such conditions that it clarifies and helps determine the real issues between the parties
    to the dispute. Further, the proviso of O.6 R.17 enacts that the court will not allow the
    application for the amendment plaint once the trial stage is commenced unless the court
    is convinced that the parties failed to mention relevant facts before the commencement
    of trial. The proviso acts as a caveat in preventing applications aimed to delay the
    proceedings after the trial commences.

    1
    [1884] 29 Ch D 700

    2
    O.6. R.17: “The Court may at any stage of the proceedings allow either party to alter or amend his pleadings in
    such manner and on such terms as may be just, and all such amendments shall be made as may be necessary for
    the purpose of determining the real questions in controversy between the parties.
    Provided that no application for amendment shall be allowed after the trial has commenced, unless the court
    comes to the conclusion that in spite of due diligence, the party could not have raised the matter before the
    commencement of trial.”
    It is pertinent to mention that in the case of Rajesh Kumar Aggarwal and Ors. v. K.K. Modi and
    Ors3, the court threw some light on the word “may” in the first paragraph, stating that it
    suggests that the civil court has the complete discretion to accept the amended plaint in
    the particular stage of the proceedings or not. Also, the word “shall” in the proviso
    suggests that the court has the discretionary power and such power shall be used in a
    liberally and judicial manner for the purpose of determining the real controversy between
    the parties.

    There are two conditions when the court allows the application of amendment of plaint
    which are as follows:-

    1) The amended plaint helps to determine the real controversy between the parties.
    2) That the amended plaint does not harm or do injustice to the opposite party

    The central principal behind allowing the parties to file an application for amendment of
    plaint is to determine the real issue between the parties but it is also important to mention
    that while filing the amended plaint the parties should keep in mind that the amended
    plaint doesn’t change the basic structure of the previous filed plaint and give rise to a new
    case altogether.

    Therefore, after understanding the concept of amendment of pleadings under O.6 R.17,
    it is right to say that an amendment plaint can be filed before the issuance of summon to
    the defendant. The O.6 R.17 specifically states that the application of amended plaint can
    be filed at any stage of the proceedings and before the commencement of the trial. The
    stage where the summons are issued is the initial and/or pre-trial stage of any civil suit.
    Thus, the amended plaint may be permitted under O.6 R.17 before the issuance of
    summon to the defendant, if the amended plaint determine the real controversy between
    the parties in order to secure justice.

    3
    (2002) 2 SCC 445.

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