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Haramani Sahoo & Ors. v. Lalita Nayak & Ors.

Civil Appeal · 2026 INSC 1112Decided 12 Oct 2026
Civil Appeal No. 13681 of 2026
Justice B.V. Nagarathna · Justice R. Mahadevan

Background

The appellants are the legal heirs of a plaintiff who sued in 2009 over title, possession, and rectification of two sale deeds concerning land that had passed through several further sales. After a chain of title facts came to light only later, the appellants sought to amend their plaint to add consequential reliefs regarding the later purchaser, but the trial court and the Orissa High Court refused to allow the amendment.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court held that the appellants had exercised due diligence as required under the proviso to Order VI Rule 17 CPC, since the relevant facts about the later sale only came to their knowledge during the suit. While acknowledging the considerable delay in seeking the amendment and the inconvenience this could cause the other side, the Court set aside the trial court's and High Court's orders refusing the amendment, and allowed it subject to the appellants paying Rs. 25,000 in costs to the contesting respondents. All underlying questions of limitation, maintainability, and the merits of the parties' claims were left open for the trial court to decide.

Lesson Learnt

A court can permit a pleading to be amended, even after considerable delay, if the facts justifying the amendment only became known to the party during the case, but allowing the amendment doesn't decide who is actually right; that is left for the trial to resolve.

Official source (sci.gov.in)View Judgment (PDF)

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