Puran Ram vs Bhaguram & Anr

6. When the description of a part of the suit property was found to be a mutual mistake, the appellant filed an application for amendment of the plaint under Order 6 Rule 17 of the Code of Civil Procedure on 20th of March, 1998 seeking to amend the plaint and give the description of the suit property as Chak No.3 SLM instead of Chak No.3 SSM. Initially, the application for amendment of the plaint was filed seeking to correct a part of the description of the suit property only in the plaint. The application for amendment of the plaint was contested by the respondent No.1. However, by an order dated 29th of August, 1998, the prayer for amendment of the plaint was rejected by the trial court on the ground that the plaint was filed on the basis of the agreement to sell dated 12th of April, 1991 and since no prayer was made for getting the agreement amended, the application for amendment of the plaint could not be allowed. Feeling aggrieved, a revision petition was filed, but later on, the same was rejected as withdrawn with liberty to raise the question in appeal against the final judgment, if such occasion arose. Since the agreement entered into by the parties contained a wrong description relating to the suit property, the appellant filed another application for amendment of the plaint seeking amendment this time not only of the plaint but also the agreement to sell dated 12th of April, 1991 so as to describe the suit property as Chak No.3 SLM, later on converted to Chak No. 3 SWM in place of Chak No.3 SSM. In the said application for amendment, the appellant sought amendment of the agreement on the ground that under Section 26 of the Specific Relief Act, 1963, he was entitled to seek amendment in the plaint as well as in the agreement by which the nature of the suit, which is a suit for specific performance of the contract for sale could not be said to have been changed. This application for amendment of the plaint was also contested by the respondent No.1 contending, inter alia, that if such amendment was allowed, the nature and character of the suit would be changed and also that the appellant cannot be permitted to amend the agreement in question in a suit for specific performance of contract for sale. By an order dated 25th of February, 2005, the Second Additional District Judge, Bikaner, allowed the application for amendment of the plaint. Feeling aggrieved by the aforesaid order of the Second Additional District Judge, Bikaner, the respondent No.2, who has purchased the suit property from the respondent No.1, filed a petition under Article 227 of the Constitution challenging the aforesaid order allowing the application for amendment of the plaint.

7. By an order dated 16th of May, 2005, which is now impugned in this appeal, the High Court allowed the petition and set aside the order of the trial court, inter alia, on the following grounds:-

16. For the reasons aforesaid, we are unable to sustain the impugned order of the High Court. Accordingly, the impugned order of the High Court is set aside and that of the Second Additional District Judge, Bikaner is restored. The application for amendment of the plaint, as prayed for, is thus allowed. It will be open to the respondents to file their written statement if the same has not yet been filed and if the same has been filed, it will be open to them to file an additional written statement within a period of one month from the date of supply of a copy of this order to the trial court.

17. The appeal is thus allowed to the extent indicated above. There will be no order as to costs.