Case: Mohinder Kumar Mehra Vs. Roop Rani Mehra &amp; Others

Facts in brief necessary to be noted for deciding the appeal are:The appellant and respondent No.5 are sons of respondent No.1. Respondent Nos. 2, 3 and 4 are wife, son and daughter of another brother of appellant. Thefather Late Shri O.P. Mehra alongwith his wife and three minor sons came to Delhi from Lahore after Partition. Shri O.P. Mehra died in 1951. The respondent No.1 and her sons were held entitled to compensation under Order of Settlement Commissioner, New Delhi dated 14.08.1956. The respondent No. 1 was declared as highest bidder in a public auction for a House No.Lajpat Nagar, area measuring 300 sq. yds. which amount was adjusted from the claim to which the respondent No.1 and her sons were heldproperty was also allotted in the name of respondent No.1 of area measuring 200 sq. yds. atNizamuddin, New Delhi. The propertyNizamuddin was sold by respondent No.1 in the year 2000. On 04.11.2009, the appellant filed a Suit No. 2082 of 2009 against the respondents seeking partition of the suit property described in Appendix A. In Appendix A, only property mentioned was PlotII, Newstatement was filed by the respondent and on 17.05.2010, issues were framed by the Court. 10.08.2010 was fixed for recording the evidence of the plaintiff. The plaintiff prayed for time for producing evidence. On 17.01.2011, plaintiff filed an application under Order VI Rule 17 praying for amendment of the plaint. By the application plaintiff sought to add certain pleadings and a prayer claiming share in the sale proceeds received by defendant No.1 from sale of the property of Nizamuddin. Application filed by the plaintiff was objected by the defendants by filing a reply. It was pleaded that several opportunities were given to the plaintiff to lead evidence and last opportunity was given on 08.12.2010 to file his evidence by 28.01.2011. It was further pleaded that in the sale document of Nizamuddin property, plaintiff himself was a witness. The relief which is sought to be amended is barred by time and is altogether a separate cause of action. Plaintiff filed a rejoinder in which it was stated that plaintiff came to know that plaintiff had undivided share in the property at Nizamuddin only in November, 2010. He further stated that he informed all the facts to his earlier counsel but in the plaint the mention of Nizamuddin property was not made by earlier counsel and while preparing for evidence in the suit, the fact was noticed by the plaintiff only in November, 2010 and hence application for amendment has been filed. The Court passed on order on 26.07.2011 granting the plaintiff fourtime as a last opportunity to file theof his witnesses subject to payment ofwith regard to I.A. No.1001 of 2011, it was statedto say in Case I.A. No.1001/2011 is allowed, appropriate orders for evidence of the plaintiff would beParties led evidence and suit was fixed for final disposal. On 14.02.2014, an order was passed directing that amendment application shall be considered at the time of final hearing of the suit. Plaintiff filed an application for amendment of issues, which was rejected by the High Court on 09.02.2015. The plaintiff filed a FAO (OS) No.196 of 2015, in which Division Bench of the High Court by order dated 28.04.2015 directed the learned Single Judge to decide the amendment application I.A. No. 1001 of 2011. In the meantime on account of pecuniary jurisdiction of the case, the suit was transferred to the Court of Additional District Judge, Saket. The Additional District Judge took up the amendment application and vide order dated 24.10.2016 rejected the amendment application. The trial court took the view that the suit for recovery of money of his share could have been filed by plaintiff within three years from the date of sale. The trial court held that the amendment sought is barred by time, hence the application wasWrit Petition under Article 227 was filed by the plaintiff in the High Court challenging the order dated 24.10.2016, which has been dismissed by the High Court by the impugned judgment, against which this appeal has been filed.

Court's reasoning:
9. Although Order VI Rule 17 permits amendment in the pleadingsany stage of thebut a limitation has been engrafted by means of Proviso to the fact that no application for amendment shall be allowed after the trial is commenced. Reserving thejurisdiction to order for permitting the party to amend pleading on being satisfied that in spite of due diligence the parties could not have raised the matter before the commencement of trial. In a suit when trial commences? Order XVIII of the C.P.C. deal withof the Suit and Examination ofIssues are framed under Order XIV. At the first hearing of the suit, the Court after reading the plaint and written statement and after examination under Rule 1 of Order XIV is to frame issues. Order XV deals withof the Suit at the firstwhen it appears that the parties are not in issue of any question of law or a fact. After issues are framed and case is fixed for hearing and the party having right to begin is to produce his evidence, the trial of suit commences.Coming to the facts of the present case, it is clear from the record that issues were framed on 17.05.2010 and case was fixed for recording of evidence of plaintiff on 10.08.2010. Plaintiff did not produce the evidence and took adjournment and in the meantime filed an application under Order VI Rule 16 or 17 on 17.01.2011. Thereafter the Court on 26.07.2011 has granted fourThus technically trial commenced when the date was fixed for leading evidence by the plaintiff but actually the amendment application was filed before the evidence was led by the plaintiff. The parties led evidence after the amendment application was filed. In this context, it is necessary to notice the order of the High Court dated 14.02.2014, which records that evidence of both the parties have been concluded. Most important fact to be noticed in the order is that the Court recorded the statement ofcounsel that parties have led evidence in view of the amendment sought in the plaint.The Proviso to Order VI Rule 17 prohibited entertainment of amendment application after commencement of the trial with the object and purpose that once parties proceed with the leading of evidence, no new pleading be permitted to be introduced. The present is a case where actually before parties could led evidence, the amendment application has been filed and from the order dated 14.02.2014, it is clear that thecase is that parties has led evidence even on the amended pleadings andcases was that in view of the fact that the parties led evidence on amended pleadings, the allowing the amendment was mere formality. The defendant in no manner can be said to be prejudiced by the amendments since plaintiff led his evidence on amended pleadings also as claimed by him.Looking to the object and purpose by which limitation was put on permitting amendment of the pleadings, in substance, in the present case no prejudice can be said to have caused to the defendant since the evidence was led subsequent to the filing of the amendment application. We thus are of the view that looking to the purpose and object of the Proviso, present was a case where it cannot be held that amendment application filed by the plaintiff could not be considered due to bar of the Proviso.Present is not a case of simply recovery of money.claim is to enforce a right to share in 18 the Nizamuddin property, which was sold in the year 2000 and according to plaintiff, the limitation is twelve years as per Article 110. The High Court has also noted the order of Additional District Judge holding that claim is barred by time. The High Court refrained from expressing any final opinion on the question of limitation but observed that the view taken by the Additional District Judge is correct.In the facts of the present case, final determination as to whether the claim could be held to be barred by time could have been decided only after considering the evidence led by the parties. Whether plaintiff had any share in the property, which was sold in the year 2000 and what was the nature of his share and whether he can claim recovery of his share within twelve years were all the questions on which final adjudication could have been made after considering the evidence and at the stage of considering the amendment in the facts of the present case, it was too early to come to a conclusion that limitation was only three years and not twelve years as claimed by the plaintiff. The High Court on the one hand refrained from expressing any opinion and on the other hand has expressed his agreement with the view taken by the Additional District Judge rejecting the application as barred by time.Although, learned counsel for the parties in their submissions have raised various submissions on the merits of the claim of the parties, which need no consideration by us since the only issue which has to be considered is as to whether the amendment application filed by the plaintiff deserves to be allowed or not. We make it clear that we have neither entered into merits of the claim nor have expressed any opinion on the merits of the claim of either party and it is for the trial court to consider the issues on merits while deciding the suit.