An unreasoned Section 152 CPC order amending decree boundaries cannot stand without hearing objections.

The petitioner, Defendant No. 3 in O.S. No. 343/2009, challenged an order allowing the plaintiff’s application under Section 152 of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 (CPC), to alter the eastern boundary stated in a compromise decree dated 21 November 2019.

The application sought to replace “land of Sarojamma” with “IOC pipeline and land belongs to Thimmaraju”.

When the application was allowed on 22 August 2024, service on Defendant No. 1 was still awaited and no defendant had filed objections.

The petitioner sought an opportunity to object, contending that the requested change was not merely clerical.

1. Whether the order allowing the Section 152 CPC application should stand when the application was allowed before objections were filed and while service on a defendant remained pending.

2. Whether the requested boundary change was a clerical correction under Section 152 CPC or an amendment to the compromise decree requiring consideration by the Trial Court.

Section 152 CPC was the provision invoked for correction of the decree; Order XXIII Rule 3 read with Section 151 CPC was the basis on which the compromise petition had been filed.

The Court did not determine whether the requested boundary change qualified as a correction permissible under Section 152 CPC. It left that question, along with the objections to the application, for the Trial Court to decide in accordance with law.

The application sought to replace the description of the land to the east of the suit property, and the Court considered that it therefore sought an amendment to the decree; whether the change was merely typographical was for the Trial Court to examine.

The petitioner had not filed objections, but the order sheet showed that service on Defendant No. 1 remained pending, and the impugned order gave no reasons for allowing the application.

In those circumstances, the Court set the order aside and allowed the petitioner time to file objections, without deciding the merits of the requested correction.

The Court granted the petitioner three weeks to file objections. The parties were directed to appear before the Trial Court on 5 October 2026; the writ petition was disposed of accordingly.