amendment of pleadings
Order VI Rule 17 CPC allows the court, at any stage of proceedings, to permit either party to alter or amend its pleadings as may be just, if the amendment is necessary to decide the real questions in controversy. The court is generally liberal, since the aim is to decide the actual dispute.
Since the 2002 amendment, no amendment is allowed after the trial has commenced unless the court finds that the party could not have raised the matter earlier despite due diligence. Amendments that change the basic nature of the suit, take away an accrued right of the other side (for example, a claim already time-barred) or are made in bad faith are usually refused. A plaintiff cannot be allowed to withdraw a clear admission by amendment, though a defendant may take inconsistent pleas.
Example
The plaintiff sought amendment of pleadings to add a prayer for possession after evidence had begun, and the court refused it under the proviso to Order VI Rule 17 for want of due diligence.
In Indian law
- Order VI Rule 17, Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 (amendment of pleadings)
See also
pleadings · plaint · written statement · limitation
Read more in the study notes
- Separation of powers and its bearing on administrative law (Administrative Law)
- Rule of law and droit administratif (Administrative Law)
- Delegated legislation: meaning, growth, merits and administrative directions (Administrative Law)
- Administrative discretion and its judicial review (Administrative Law)
- Need for ADR, international commitments and suitability of disputes (Alternative Dispute Resolution Systems)
- ADR and the Civil Procedure Code: section 89 and Afcons (Alternative Dispute Resolution Systems)