C.R No. 6915 of 2009 (O&M) ::1:: IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH C.R No. 6915 of 2009 (O&M) Date of decision : November 26, 2009 Lal Chand, ...... Petitioner (s) v. Jagjit Kumar and others, ...... Respondent(s) *** CORAM : HON'BLE MR.JUSTICE AJAY TEWARI *** Present : Mr. S.K.Chopra, Advocate for the petitioner. *** 1. Whether Reporters of Local Newspapers may be allowed to see the judgment ? 2. To be referred to the Reporters or not ? 3. Whether the judgment should be reported in the Digest ? *** AJAY TEWARI, J (Oral) This petition has been filed against an order declining application for amendment of written statement on the ground that since issues have been framed, the trial is deemed to have commenced and the application is, therefore, not maintainable. On being asked as to what was the amendment sought, counsel for the petitioner has stated that the amendment sought was only with regard to taking up of a plea of res judicata. In my opinion, in the circumstances of the present case, it is clear that the plea is being sought to be raised with regard to a decision of C.R No. 6915 of 2009 (O&M) ::2:: the Hon'ble Supreme Court on which both parties are relying. In State of Punjab v. Bua Das Kaushal, AIR 1971 SC 1676, the Hon'ble Supreme Court has held as follows :- “.......Although no specific plea was taken in the written statement nor was any issue framed before the trial Court but the necessary facts were present to the mind of the parties and were gone into by the court. It was stated in the judgment of the trial court that the plaintiff before seeking the remedy of filing a regular suit had moved the High Court in the writ petition.....” In my considered opinion, the present case would be covered by the dictum of law reproduced above and the plea of res judicata would be available to the petitioner in any case, even if not specifically pleaded in the written statement. In this view of the matter, no further action needs to be taken on this petition and the same is dismissed as having become rendered infructuous. As the main petition has since been dismissed, all the pending civil miscellaneous applications, if any, also stand disposed of. ( AJAY TEWARI ) November 26, 2009. JUDGE `kk'