MP HC Lets Land-Suit Plaintiffs Add Alleged Illegal Boundary-Wall Construction And Dispossession Pleas Despite Delay, If They Pay Defendants Rs 10,000

The petitioners, plaintiffs in a suit for declaration of title and permanent injunction, challenged the Civil Judge’s order rejecting their application under Order VI Rule 17 read with Section 151 of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 (CPC), to amend the plaint.

The proposed amendments concerned an alleged illegal boundary wall and the plaintiffs’ alleged dispossession from the suit land. The trial court rejected the application, noting that the defendants’ counterclaim had been filed in 2021 and that the plaintiffs had not plausibly explained their delay or shown due diligence. The application was made at the plaintiffs’ evidence stage.

Article 227 of the Constitution provides the supervisory jurisdiction invoked to challenge the trial court’s order. Order VI Rule 17 CPC governs amendment of pleadings, and Section 151 CPC was cited in the amendment application.

Relying on Life Insurance Corporation of India v. Sanjeev Builders Pvt. Ltd. and Another, (2022) 16 SCC 1, the Court applied the principles that amendments necessary for effective adjudication should generally be allowed unless they cause injustice or prejudice, change the nature of the suit, introduce a time-barred claim, are mala fide, or deprive the opposing party of a valid defence. Delay alone is not a sufficient ground to refuse amendment, and costs may compensate the other side.

Although the plaintiffs had delayed in seeking amendment, the Court found that neither the trial court nor the defendants had identified any prejudice that would result from allowing it, or shown that the amendment would remove a valid defence.

Applying the principles in Sanjeev Builders, the Court concluded that delay alone did not warrant rejection and that the defendants could be protected by an award of costs; they could also seek consequential amendments to their pleadings.

The defendants were granted liberty to seek consequential amendments to their written statement or counterclaim. The petition was disposed of accordingly.