Justice Suraj Govindaraj, Karnataka High Court
Only The Person Who Filed A Pleading Can Seek Its Amendment, Not Someone Who Adopted It: Karnataka High Court
|The Karnataka High Court has held that only the person who has filed a particular pleading can seek an amendment to that. If there is a joint plaint or written statement filed, an application to amend the joint plaint or written statement would have to be filed by all the plaintiffs or the defendants who have filed the said pleadings jointly.
The Court held that an individual plaintiff or an individual defendant cannot seek to amend the plaint or written statement filed jointly. The Court further held that a party who has adopted a pleading cannot seek to amend it.
An application under Rule 17 of Order VI of the Code of Civil Procedure came to be filed seeking to amend the written statement filed by the defendant on the ground that another defendant had also adopted the written statement of the defendant, who had filed the written statement.
A Single Bench of Justice Suraj Govindaraj held, “It is only for the person who has filed any particular pleading who can seek for amendment of that pleading. If there is a joint plaint or written statement filed, an application to amend the joint plaint or written statement would have to be filed by all the plaintiffs or all the defendants, who have filed the said pleadings jointly. An individual plaintiff or an individual defendant cannot seek to amend the plaint or written statement filed jointly.”
Advocate Sriyuths. S.B. Doddagoudar appeared for the Petitioner, while Advocate Chandrashekhar M. Hosamani for the Respondent.
Furthermore, while dismissing the petition Court added, “In that view of the matter, in my considered opinion, it would not be permissible for defendant No.4, who has not filed a written statement, to seek amendment of a written statement not filed by defendant No.4.Liberty is reserved to defendant No.2 to file an amendment application, which has to be considered on merits by the trial Court.”
Cause Title: Smt. Seeta Nayak & Others v. Smt. Laxmi Kom Nagesh Naik (Neutral Citation: 2025:KHC-D:10507)
Appearance:
Petitioners: Advocates Sriyuths. S.B. Doddagoudar, S.G. Nandoor, and A.C. Chakalabbi Associates
Respondent: Advocate Sri. Chandrashekhar M. Hosamani