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Mondira Ghosh v. Chaitali Ghosh

Civil Appeal · 2026 INSC 545Decided 26 May 2026
C.A. No.-008195-008195 - 2026
Justice Sanjay Kumar · Justice K. Vinod Chandran

Background

The plaintiff sued the defendant for eviction from certain premises, alleging unlawful possession; the defendant's original written statement claimed she was a bona fide co-sharer of the property. After issues were framed and trial had begun, with the plaintiff's witness already cross-examined over three separate dates, the defendant sought to file an additional written statement and counter-claim, this time claiming she was actually a tenant, a position completely different from her original stand. The Trial Court rejected this as an impermissible change of stand after trial had begun, but the Calcutta High Court, in a supervisory petition, allowed the additional written statement (though not the counter-claim) on payment of costs, reasoning the new facts were relevant and the delay was satisfactorily explained.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court held that the High Court had correctly identified the legal bar: the proviso to Order 6 Rule 17 CPC restricts amendment of pleadings after trial has commenced, and Order 8 Rule 9 CPC does not allow a party to bypass that bar simply by calling a new pleading an "additional written statement", but then wrongly went on to permit the defendant to do exactly that. The Court explained that Order 6 Rule 7 CPC prohibits a party from raising, in a later pleading, facts inconsistent with what was pleaded earlier, and the defendant's shift from claiming to be a co-sharer to claiming to be a tenant was a complete and contradictory reversal, not an inadvertent gap being filled in. It held that allowing this application, filed only after trial had commenced and evidence had already been led, amounted to an abuse of process designed to get around the Order 6 Rule 17 proviso. The Supreme Court accordingly allowed the appeal, set aside the High Court's order, and restored the Trial Court's rejection of the additional written statement.

Lesson Learnt

A party to a civil suit cannot use the device of an "additional written statement" to completely reverse their originally pleaded case (as opposed to merely supplementing it) once the trial has already begun. Courts will treat such an attempt as an abuse of process meant to sidestep the stricter legal bar on amending pleadings mid-trial.

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

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