Preliminary decree amendment in partnership dissolution was allowed to correct omission of declared shares.

In a partnership dissolution suit, a preliminary decree must declare the parties' proportionate shares before the final decree is passed under Order 20 Rule 15 CPC, and the prescribed form also contemplates that declaration. Where the pleadings and evidence showed equal shares, omission of the share declaration was treated as a drafting defect that did not alter the substantive position. The court held that the defect could be corrected by amendment of the preliminary decree, and the party need not be driven to appeal or review merely to cure a decree that failed to conform to the mandatory scheme of the Code.

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Issues: Whether a preliminary decree in a partnership dissolution suit, which omitted a declaration of the parties' proportionate shares, could be corrected by amendment under the Civil Procedure Code.

Analysis: In a suit for dissolution of partnership and accounts, Order 20, Rule 15 of the Civil Procedure Code requires the court, before passing the final decree, to pass a preliminary decree declaring the proportionate shares of the parties. Form No. 21 likewise contemplates such a declaration in the decree. On the pleadings and evidence, the parties had equal shares, and the omission in the drafted decree was a failure to conform the decree to the mandatory form and scheme of the Code. The objection that the plaintiff should be driven to appeal or review was rejected because the defect lay in the drafting of the decree and could be rectified by the court under its powers to correct the decree.

Conclusion: The omission was correctable, and the amendment of the preliminary decree ought to have been allowed in favour of the petitioner.

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