The Supreme Court has held that a negligent error made in the plea cannot be declined to be rectified when the mistake is obvious from the interpretation of the plea.

The bench of Justices Justice DY Chandrachud and Justice Hemant Gupta said: “…Such inadvertent mistake cannot be refused to be corrected when the mistake is apparent from the reading of the plaint. The Rules of Procedure are handmaid of justice and cannot defeat the substantive rights of the parties. It is well settled that amendment in the pleadings cannot be refused merely because of some mistake, negligence, inadvertence or even infraction of the Rules of Procedure. The Court always gives leave to amend the pleadings even if a party is negligent or careless as the power to grant amendment of the pleadings is intended to serve the ends of justice and is not governed by any such narrow or technical limitations…” and set aside trial court and high court order and allowed petitioner Varun Pahwa to amend the plea with no order as to costs.

Pahwa filed a suit before trial court and when order was passed by the learned trial court to furnish address of the Pahwa and asked why he should be examined through an attorney when he is a resident of Delhi. Thereafter, Pahwa filed an application for amendment of the plaint on the ground that the counsel had inadvertently made the title of the suit wrongly as the loan was advanced through the Company, therefore, the suit was to be in the name of the Company.

Trial Court disallowed the permission to amend the plaint on the ground that the application is an attempt to convert the suit filed by a private individual into a suit filed by a Private Limited company which is not permissible as it completely changes the nature of suit. High Court, Delhi also upheld the order of the Trial Court.

Being aggrieved by the order of the High Court, Pahwa filed a suit before Supreme Court.

—Monica Singh