Plaint amendment under CPC may cure defects despite rejection grounds, where justice requires and no prejudice is caused.

Amendment of a plaint under Order 6 Rule 17 CPC is not limited or controlled by Order 7 Rule 11 CPC. The power to amend exists where the change is needed to determine the real controversy and advance substantial justice, even if the plaint might otherwise be vulnerable to rejection for want of a cause of action. If the defect can be cured without injustice to the other side, amendment may be allowed to avoid rejection of the plaint and the need for a fresh suit. Prior decisions cited to the contrary were treated as fact-specific and not as laying down a different principle.

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Issues: Whether the power to amend a plaint under Order 6 Rule 17 of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 is restricted or controlled by Order 7 Rule 11 of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908.

Analysis: Amendment of pleadings is intended to enable the Court to decide the real controversy between the parties and to advance substantial justice. The possibility that a plaint may be liable to rejection for want of a cause of action does not, by itself, take away the Court's power to permit amendment if the defect can be cured without injustice to the other side. Order 7 Rule 11 does not create an absolute bar against amendment; rather, amendment may prevent rejection of the plaint and avoid the need for a fresh suit where the defect is capable of being removed. The Court also noted that prior decisions relied on by the defendant were confined to their facts and did not lay down a contrary principle.

Conclusion: Order 6 Rule 17 is not restricted or controlled by Order 7 Rule 11, and the Court may allow amendment of a plaint to cure defects and avoid rejection where justice so requires.

Ratio Decidendi: The power to amend pleadings under Order 6 Rule 17 is available notwithstanding Order 7 Rule 11, so long as the amendment is not impermissibly substitutive and is necessary to determine the real controversy without causing injustice.

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