THE WEST BENGAL NATIONAL

UNIVERSITY
OF JURIDICAL SCIENCES

CPC ASSIGNMENT MONSOON

SEMESTER 2021

BATCH OF 2025
ID NUMBER: 220062

SUBMITTED BY:
SUPERVISED BY:
UTSAV MANDAL DR.
JYOTIRMOY ADHIKARY

“The whole object of pleadings is to bring parties to an issue, and the meaning of the rules
(relating to pleadings) was to prevent the issue being enlarged, which would prevent either
party from knowing when the cause came on for trial, what the real point to be discussed
and decided was.”

Pleadings: Objective and Basic Rules

A written declaration or plaint, which forms the backbone of every litigation, is referred to as
pleadings. A plaintiff's pleading in his plaint is a statement in which he states his cause of
action in detail, including all pertinent details. To avoid ambiguity, pleadings must be
appropriately crafted using clear and succinct wording.

They should include all significant facts as well as additional essential and required
information to establish the plaintiff's cause of action, and the defendant's written statement
should answer to every truth stated in the plaint as well as introduce any new facts that may
be favourable to the defendant. Pleadings are used to guarantee that parties are expressing the
problem at hand and to prevent them from being expanded once the trial begins. It also assists
the parties in staying on track in terms of what must be proven at trial. The CPC's Order 6
covers pleadings in general, but for the purposes of this response, the focus will be on Order
6 Rule 17, which deals with pleading amendments

Meaning and Object and General Principles on Amendment of

Pleadings:

Making a modification to what has already been presented to the Court in the plaint or written
declaration is known as amending a pleading. There may be times when some details are
unavailable at one time but become accessible later, or when one is unable to plead all
important facts, and the CPC has a mechanism for modification to avoid such a circumstance.
In Rameshkumar Agarwal v. Rajmala Exports Pvt Ltd1, the Supreme Court declared that in
the usual run of things, the Court should not deny any bona fide, legitimate, honest, and
essential adjustments and should never approve dishonest alterations.

The purpose and objective behind Order 6 Rule 17 of the CPC is to permit either of the
parties to alter and amend their pleadings in a manner which is just. The Court further stated
that an amendment cannot be claimed as a matter of right and it is not possible for the Court
to adopt a hyper-technical approach while deciding such prayers. The basic consideration
while permitting an amendment of pleadings is to avoid multiplicity of litigations. A liberal
approach should be adopted when deciding a prayer for modification, especially where the
opposite party may be rewarded with expenditures. While overturning the High Court's
decision in B.K.N. Narayana Pillai v. P. Pillai and Ors 2, the Supreme Court held that the mere
fact of a delay in filing an application to amend pleading cannot be a valid ground for
rejection where the other party can be compensated by costs and no irreversible prejudice is
caused.

The goal of courts in a legal system is to advance the objectives of justice, therefore giving
them the authority to allow pleading amendments is in the interest of accomplishing full
justice rather than undermining them with something that can be readily corrected. The
Courts have broad authority in determining whether a party can change, amend, or modify his
pleading at any point during the process. However, such discretion cannot be applied
according to the Court's whims and fancies, and must instead be exercised in accordance with
well-established principles.

The proviso of Order 6 Rule 17 limits the Courts' ability to allow parties to alter their
pleadings. In the case of Bharat Petroleum Corporations Ltd. v. Precious Finance Ltd 3. (2006)
6 Bom Cr 510, the Supreme Court established numerous norms and conditions for approving
pleading amendments. The proviso to Order 6 Rule 17 is procedural, according to the Court,
and it does not provide or take away the Court's existing authority to approve revisions. It
only allows the court to approve an application if it is convinced that the parties could not
have sought the change prior to the start of the trial even after exercising reasonable
diligence. As a result, an application for modification can be heard by the court at any point
throughout the proceedings, even if the court's discretion is limited by the proviso included

1
Agarwal v. Rajmala Exports Pvt Ltd (2012) 5 SCC 337
2
B.K.N. Narayana Pillai v. P. Pillai and Ors AIR 2000 SC 614
3
Bharat Petroleum Corporations Ltd. v. Precious Finance Ltd (2006) 6 Bom Cr 510
by the 2002 amendment to the CPC. The Court held in State of Juhi Senguttuvan Section B,
LLB 2018. A.P. v. Pioneer Builders 4 that amendment of pleadings can be allowed at any
stage of the proceedings to allow either party to alter or amend pleadings in such a way as
may be just and necessary to determine the real issue in dispute between the parties. The goal
of allowing amendments at any level is to ensure that the purposes of justice are
accomplished while avoiding bias.

The court held in Rajesh Kumar Aggarwal & Ors v. K.K. Modi & Ors 5 that pleadings
amendment comprises of two parts:

The term may in the first portion gives the court discretionary power to approve or deny the
application of pleadings. The word ‘shall' in the second portion directs the civil court to
accept the application of pleadings if it is required for identifying the true issues in dispute
between the parties. Furthermore, the Court states in paragraphs 15 and 16 that the purpose of
allowing pleading modifications is to allow any revisions that are required to discover the
true dispute between the parties, provided that no injustice or prejudice is inflicted to the
opposing party.

In addition, the case of Rajesh Kumar Aggarwal (Supra) defines the "real controversy" test as
the basic or cardinal test that the Court must apply to determine whether allowing an
amendment is necessary to resolve the real dispute between the parties.

Principles and Consideration Involved while Permitting Amendment of

Pleading

Furthermore, a review of various legal precedents aids in the formulation of certain essential
concepts that the court should examine when approving or denying a motion to amend
pleadings.

Under Ganesh Trading Co. v. Moji Ram6, the Supreme Court outlined the situations in which
an amendment may or may not be approved. In paragraph 5, the Court held that an
application to amend pleading must be denied if the plaintiff seeks to change the cause of
action directly or indirectly, and that amending the pleading will result in the emergence of an
entirely new and inconsistent cause of action, leading to the plaint being substituted. The
4
State of Juhi Senguttuvan Section B, LLB 2018.
A.P. v. Pioneer Builders (2006) 12 SCC 119
5
Rajesh Kumar Aggarwal & Ors v. K.K. Modi & Ors AIR 2006 SC 1647
6
Ganesh Trading Co. v. Moji Ram (1978) 2 SCC 91
Court further stated that a failure to state an essential fact does not, in and of itself, constitute
a violation of the law.

Other questions to consider include whether the amendment is required to ensure proper
justice in the case; whether prejudice has been caused and no amount of compensation can
compensate for the prejudice; whether rejecting the application will result in multiple
lawsuits or injustice; whether the nature of the cause of action has changed; and so on.

Furthermore, the factors are not exhaustive and are merely indicative, and the court must be
mindful of its discretion under Order 6 Rule 17 as it is a very serious judicial exercise, and
the court must not refuse bona fide, legitimate, honest, and necessary amendments while
never allowing mala fide, worthless, and dishonest amendments. Rajmala Exports Ltd. v.
Rajkumar Agarwal.

Basic or Fundamental Rules

Basic or Fundamental Rules are discussed in the sub-rule (1) of Rule 2 of Order VI of the
Code of Civil Procedure, 1908. Summarising the provision, the basic rules of pleadings are
the following:

Facts should be pleaded upon and not the law

This was first held in the case Kedar Lal v. Hari Lal 7 where it was held that the parties are under
the duty to state the facts on which they are claiming their compensation. The court shall apply
the law as per the stated facts to render the judgement. One should not assert or apply any laws
for claiming right on the stated facts.

Material facts should be pleaded

The second basic rule is to present facts which are material only. Immaterial facts shall not be
considered. The question arose in the court of law that what is the actual scope of ‘material facts’.
It was decided by the judge in the case Union of India v. Sita Ram 8 that material facts will be
inclusive of all those facts upon which the plaintiff’s counsel will claim damages or rights as the
case may be or the defendant will put forth his defence. In nutshell, facts which will form the

7
Kedar Lal v. Hari Lal AIR 1952 Cal 176
8
Union of India v. Sita Ram 1977 SCR (1) 950
basis for claiming a right or compensation by the plaintiff or prove the defendant’s defence in the
written statement will fall under the ambit of being ‘material’.

Evidence should not be included while pleading

It says that pleadings should contain a statement of material facts on which the party relies but not
the evidence by which those facts are to be proved.

There are two types of facts :

 Facts probanda : the facts which need to be proved, i.e material facts

 Facts probantia: facts by which a case is to be proved, i.e evidence

Only facts probanda should form the part of pleadings and not facts probantia. The material facts
on which the plaintiff relies for his claim or the defendant relies for his defence are called facta
probanda, and they must be stated in the plaint or in the written statement, as the case may be.

Facts in concise manner should be presented

This is the last and final basic rule of pleadings. Compressed and crisp presentation must be
adhered while presenting the pleadings. At the same time it must be kept in mind that in order to
maintain brevity of facts one should not miss out on important facts in the pleadings. Pleadings
can be saved from superfluity if one takes care in syntax.

Particulars or other rules

1. Particulars with dates and items should be stated wherever fraud, misrepresentation,
breach of trust, undue influence or wilful default are pleaded in the pleadings.

2. Generally, departure from pleading is not permissible, and except by way of

amendment, no party can raise any ground of claim or contain any allegation of fact
inconsistent with his previous pleadings.

3. Non-performance of a condition precedent should be specifically mentioned in the

pleadings. Performance of the same shall not form a part of the pleadings since it is
already implied.
4. If the opposite party denies a contract, it will be held as denial of the facts of the
contract and not its validity, enforceability and legality.

5. Wherever malice, fraudulent intention, knowledge or other condition of the mind of a

person is material, it may be alleged in the pleading only as a fact without setting out
the circumstances from which it is to be inferred.

6. Unless the facts are material, there is no need for the facts to be stated in verbatim.

7. Pleadings should only state the giving of a notice, when it is required to give a notice
or condition precedent, without disclosing the form or manner of such notice or giving
details of any circumstances from which the form of notice can be determined, unless
the same is material.

8. Implied relations between persons or contracts can be alleged as facts and the series of
conversations, letters and the circumstances from which they are to be inferred should
be pleaded generally.

9. The facts which deals with onus of proof or which favours a party shall not be
pleaded.

10. Every pleading should be signed by the party or one of the parties or by his pleader.

11. A party to the suit shall provide with his and the opposite party’s address.

12. Each and every pleading need to be approved by making an affidavit by the party or a
person who is acquainted by the facts stated in the pleading.

13. A pleading may be ordered to be strike out by a court of law, if it feels the same is
scandalous, frivolous, unnecessary or intended towards embarrassing, prejudicing or
delaying a fair trial in the court.

14. Amendment of pleadings shall be allowed by the court

15. The pleadings shall be divided in proper paragraphs whenever required, consecutively
numbered and structured properly. Every argument or allegations must be in separate
paragraphs. Dates, sums and any totals shall be expressed in figures as well as in
words so as to maintain clarity for the judge as well as the parties concerned in the
trial.

16. Forms in Appendix A of the Code should be used wherever they are applicable.
Where they are not applicable, forms of like nature should be used.
Amendment of Pleadings

Rules 17 and 18 of Order VI of Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 deal with amendment of pleading.
These provisions aim towards achieving justice in the society. Rule 17 of the Code of Civil
Procedure, 1908 provides either parties may be ordered to amend or alter his pleading at any
stage of the proceeding in such manner which shall be fair and just and allow amendment when
necessary so as to determine the exact controversial question between the parties.

On the other hand Rule 18 deals with the issue of failure of amending the pleading. It deals with
the law that if court orders a party to make necessary and if he fails to do the same within the
given time limit given by the order or if no time is limited then within 14 days from the date of
the order, he shall not be permitted to amend after the expiration of such limited time as aforesaid
or of such 14 days, as the case may be, unless the time is extended by the Court.

Conclusion

Pleadings form the backbone of any legal suit. The case is set out in the pleading. It guides the
parties to form the arguments and know the contentions of the other party so as to frame claims or
defence by either party respectively. It is guidance in the whole journey of the suit. They also
determine the range of admissible evidence which the parties should adduce at the trial. The Code
of Civil Procedure lays down the fundamental rules of pleadings along with the amendments to
the same. These provisions are aimed to strike a balance in the society and to achieve the ultimate
ends of justice.

Bibliography

Books

 Civil procedure limitation and commercial courts by C.K. Takwani 

Online Sources

 MANUPATRA
 SCC ONLINE