Sachin Chugh and Another vs Improvement Trust

L.N. Mittal, J.—In this revision petition filed by plaintiffs under Article 227 of the Constitution of India, challenge is to order dated 17.9.2012 Annexure P/4 passed by the trial court thereby dismissing application Annexure P/2 filed by the plaintiffs for amendment of plaint. In the suit, plaintiffs have inter alia challenged notice dated 1.2.2007 issued by defendant/respondent Improvement Trust, Hisar demanding additional price for the shop which has been purchased by the plaintiffs from its previous owner Ishwar Dutt to whom it was allotted by the defendant. The additional price has been demanded on the ground of enhancement of compensation for the acquired land of the Scheme in which the shop is situated. The plaintiffs have pleaded 11 grounds in paragraph 6 of the plaint, besides grounds pleaded in other paragraphs of the plaint to challenge the said notice.

The plaintiffs alleged in the amendment application that they have now been able to seek some more information which was earlier not in their knowledge and therefore, they want to add four more grounds in paragraph 6 of the plaint to challenge the aforesaid notice.

Defendant by filing reply Annexure P/3 opposed the amendment application. It was pleaded that the plaintiffs were already aware of the facts on the basis of which amendment of plaint is being sought.

Learned trial court vide impugned order Annexure P/4 has dismissed the amendment application as it was moved after commencement of trial. Feeling aggrieved, plaintiffs have filed the instant revision petition to challenge the said order.

I have heard counsel for the parties and perused the case file.

Counsel for the parties reiterated their aforesaid respective stands.

I have carefully considered the matter. Some information on the basis of which amendment is sought was said to be in the record of the defendant - Improvement Trust itself which was allegedly not available to the plaintiffs earlier. Counsel for defendant/respondent contended that the proposed amendment is almost irrelevant as the plaintiffs in the plaint have already challenged the calculation of the additional price. However, if the plaintiffs by amendment of plaint want to submit some more information regarding the calculation of the additional price, the defendant would not suffer any prejudice by it, particularly because according to the defendant, proposed amendment contains irrelevant information. Since some information was not available to the plaintiffs earlier, the proposed amendment may be allowed although sought after commencement of trial because due to non-availability of information earlier, the plaintiffs could not have sought proposed amendment of plaint before commencement of trial inspite of due diligence. Defendant can be compensated by way of costs for the delay in seeking amendment of plaint. Resultantly, the instant revision petition is allowed. Impugned order Annexure P/4 passed by the trial court is set aside. Application Annexure P/2 filed by the plaintiffs for amendment of plaint is allowed and the plaintiffs are permitted to make proposed amendment in their plaint on payment of Rs. 7500/- as costs precedent.