Case: Jai Jai Ram Manohar Lal Vs. National Building Material Supply, Gurgaon

may be allowed if it can be made without injustice to the other side.In Amulakchand Mewaram v. Babulal Kanalal, 35 Bom LR 569=(AIR 1933 Bom 304 ), Beaumont, C. J., in delivering the judgment of the Bombay High Court set out the principles applicable to cases like the present and observed:". . . . . . . . the question whether there should be an amendment or not really turns upon whether the name in which the suit is brought is the name of a nonexistent person or whether it is merely a misdescription of existing persons. If the former is the case, the suit is a nullity and no amendment can cure it. If the latter is the case, prima facie, there ought to be an amendment because the general rule, subject no doubt to certain exceptions, is that the Court should always allow an amendment where any loss to the opposing party can be compensated for by costs.In Amulakchand Mewarams case, 35 Bom LR 569=(AIR 1933 Bom 304 ) a Hindu undivided family sued in its business name. It was not appreciated at an early stage of the suit that in fact the firm name was not of a partnership, but was the name of a joint Hindu family. An objection was raised by the defendant that the suit as filed was not maintainable. An application to amend the plaint, by substituting the names of the three members of the joint family for the name of the family firm as plaintiffs, was rejected by the Court of first instance. In appeal the High Court observed that a suit brought in the name of a firm in a case not within Order 30, Civil Procedure Code being in fact a case of misdescription of existing persons, leave to amend ought to have been given.6. This Court considered a somewhat similar case in Purushottam Umedbhais case, 1961-1SCR 982=(AIR 1961 SC 325 ). A firm carrying on business outside India filed a suit in the firm name in the High Court of Calcutta for a decree for compensation for breach of contract. The plaintiff then applied for amendment of the plaint by describing the names of all the partners and striking out the name of the firm as a mere misdescription. The application for amendment was rejected on the view that the original plaint was no plaint in law andit was not a case of misnomer or misdescription, but a case of a non-existent firm or a non-existent person suing. In appeal, the High Court held that the description of the plaintiff by a firm name in a case where the Code of Civil Procedure did not permit a suit to be brought in the firm name should properly be considered a case of description of the individual partners of the business and as such a misdescription, which in law can be corrected and should not be considered to amount to a description of a non-existent person. Against the order of the High Court an appeal was preferred to this Court. This Court observed (at p. 994):"Since, however, a firm is not a legal entity the privilege of suing in the name of a firm is permissible only to those persons who, as partners, are doing business in India. Such privilege is not extended to persons who are doing business as partners outside India. In their case they still have to sue in their individual names. If however, under some misapprehension, persons doing business as partners outside India do file a plaint in the name of their firm they are misdescribing themselves, as the suit instituted is by them, they being known collectively as a firm. It seems, therefore, that a plaint filed in a Court in India in the name of a firm doing business outside India is not by itself a nullity. It is a plaint by all the partners of the firm with a defective description of themselves for the purpose of the Code of Civil Procedure. In these circumstances, a Civil Court could permit, under the provisions of Section 153 of the Code (or possibly under Order VI, Rule 17, about which we say nothing), an amendment of the plaint to enable a proper description of the plaintiffs to appear in it in order to assist the Court in determining the real question or issue between the parties."These cases do no more than illustrate the well-settled rule that all amendments should be permitted as may be necessary for the purpose of determining the real question in controversy between the parties, unless by permitting the amendment injustice may result to the other side.7. In the present case, the plaintiff was carrying on business as commission agent in the name of "Jai Jai Ram Manohar Lal". The plaintiff was competent to sue in his own name as Manager of the Hindu undivided family to which the business belonged; be says he sued on behalf of the family in the business name. The observation made by the High Court that the application for amendment of the plaint could not be granted,because there was no averment therein that the misdescription was on account of a bona fide mistake, and on that account the suit must fail, cannot be accepted. In our view, there is no rule that unless in an application for amendment of the plaint it is expressly averred that the error, omission or misdescription is due to a bona fide mistake, the Court has no power to grant leave to amend the plaint. The power to grant amendment of the pleadings is intended to serve the ends of justice and is not governed by any such narrow or technical limitations.8. Since the name in which the action was instituted was merely a misdescription of the original plaintiff, no question of limitation arises; the plaint must be deemed on amendment to have been instituted in the name of the real plaintiff on the date on which it was originally instituted.

Decision (1 = appeal accepted, 0 = rejected): 1

Explanation:
1[ds]5. The order passed by the High Court cannot beIn the present case, the plaintiff was carrying on business as commission agent in the name of "Jai Jai Ram Manohar Lal". The plaintiff was competent to sue in his own name as Manager of the Hindu undivided family to which the business belonged; be says he sued on behalf of the family in the business name. The observation made by the High Court that the application for amendment of the plaint could not be granted,because there was no averment therein that the misdescription was on account of a bona fide mistake, and on that account the suit must fail, cannot be accepted. In our view, there is no rule that unless in an application for amendment of the plaint it is expressly averred that the error, omission or misdescription is due to a bona fide mistake, the Court has no power to grant leave to amend the plaint. The power to grant amendment of the pleadings is intended to serve the ends of justice and is not governed by any such narrow or technical limitations.8. Since the name in which the action was instituted was merely a misdescription of the original plaintiff, no question of limitation arises; the plaint must be deemed on amendment to have been instituted in the name of the real plaintiff on the date on which it was originally instituted.