The Jharkhand High Court has held that in accordance with Section 152 of the Code of Civil Procedure, clerical and arithmetical mistakes can be rectified in judgements and decrees.

Justice Subhash Chand presiding over the case, observed, “In view of Section 152 of the Code of Civil Procedure, the clerical and arithmetical mistake can be rectified the judgment and decree as well. The learned Trial Court has committed illegality by refusing the application for amendment of the petitioner-plaintiff up to the extent of correction of the plot number and are as well, which sought to be corrected in view of the details of the property as shown in the plaint.”

As per the factual matrix of the case, the Partition suit had been filed by the Plaintiff and the suit was also decreed in favour of the Plaintiff.

During the final decree proceedings, the petitioner-plaintiff discovered that certain plots were incorrectly mentioned in the judgement and decree, with one plot listed twice. The correct plot number and area were provided in the plaint, indicating a typographical error. The petitioners moved for an amendment application before the civil court, which was rejected, prompting the present writ petition.

The respondent argued that the amendment was sought belatedly during the final decree proceedings and should not be permitted.

However, the court found the proposed amendment to be a rectification of a typographical mistake as noted by the plaintiff.

Consequently, the Jharkhand High Court partly allowed the impugned order passed by the trial court and directed it to permit the petitioners to insert the proposed amendment in the judgement and decree within two weeks from the date of production of a copy of the High Court's order by either party.

Case Title: Khageshwar Rana V. Smt. Sundri Devi

LL Citation: 2024 LiveLaw (Jha) 125

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