IN THE HIGH COURT OF KARNATAKA AT BENGALURU DATED THIS THE 28TH DAY OF AUGUST, 2019 BEFORE THE HON’BLE MR. JUSTICE KRISHNA S DIXIT WRIT PETITION No.38682 OF 2019 (GM-CPC) BETWEEN:
1. M/S ONDOT CORPORATE SERVICES PVT. LTD. (A COMPANY INCORPORATED UNDER THE INDIAN COMPANIES ACT) FORMERLY AT S-201, SURAJ LAKSHMI APARTMENT 56-2, 1ST MAIN TATA SILK FARM BASAVANAGUDI BENGALURU-560004 CURRENTLY AT NO.37, M N KRISHNA RAO ROAD LALBAGH WEST GATE BASAVANAGUDI BENGALURU-560004 REPRESENTED BY ITS DIRECTOR MR SUDHAKAR PAI 2. M/S KRISHIL CAPITAL HOLDINGS PVT. LTD.
(A COMPANY INCORPORATED UNDER INDIAN COMPANIES ACT) PRESENTLY HAVING OFFICE AT NO.37, M N KRISHNA RAO ROAD LALBAGH WEST GATE BASAVANAGUDI BENGALURU-560004 REPRESENTED BY ITS DIRECTOR SRI K R CHOUDARY … PETITIONERS (BY SRI ARVIND KAMATH AND SRI VEENA J. KAMATH FOR SRI GOVINDRAYA KAMATH.K, ADVOCATES) AND:
MR. N. VENUGOPAL REDDY S/O MR P NARAYANA REDDY AGED ABOUT 72 YEARS RESIDING AT NO.448 BEHIND GOVERNMENT SCHOOL DODDANEKUNDI MARATHALLI HOBLI BANGALORE-560037 … RESPONDENT THIS WRIT PETITION IS FILED UNDER ARTICLE 227 OF THE CONSTITUTION OF INDIA PRAYING TO SET ASIDE THE ORDER DTD:14.8.2019 PASSED BY THE VIII ADDITIONAL CITY CIVIL AND SESSIONS JUDGE, BANGALORE ON THE APPLICATION FILED BY THE RESPONDENT IN I.A.NO.IX OF 2019 UNDER ORDER VI RULE 17 OF THE CODE OF CIVIL PROCEDURE, 1908 IN O.S.NO.606/2018 AS PER ANNEXURE-A AND ETC.
THIS WRIT PETITION COMING ON FOR PRELIMINARY HEARING THIS DAY, THE COURT MADE THE FOLLOWING:
ORDER Petitioners being the defendants in the respondent’s suit in O.S.No.606/2018 are knocking at the doors of writ court for assailing the order dated 14.08.2019, whereby the learned VIII Addl. City Civil Judge, Bengaluru having favoured respondent’s application in I.A.No.9 filed under Order VI Rule 17 of CPC 1908 has accorded leave to amend the plaint and consequently the original injunctive suit is converted into the one for a decree of declaration of title.
2. Having heard the learned Senior Advocate for the petitioners and having perused the petition papers, this Court declines to grant indulgence in the matter because:
(i) suit is of the year 2018 and it has not advanced to the trial stage as on the date the amendment application was filed; there is no latches attributable to the plaintiff, either since the parties were litigating before this Court in an M.F.A.; thus the bar under the proviso to Order VI Rule 17 is uninvokable;
(ii) the impugned order being a product of exercise of discretion by the Court below in accordance with the Rules of reason & justice, ordinarily, is not subject to a deeper scrutiny at the hands of this Court exercising limited jurisdiction under Article 227 of the Constitution of India; and, (iii) the impugned order whereby an injunctive suit is converted into a declaration suit as well, does not cause any prejudice to the petitioners, who otherwise also would have faced a fresh suit on the same cause of action, if the leave to amend the plaint was not granted by the Court below; thus the impugned order has brought about a just result, which interdicts this Court from interference.
In the above circumstances, writ petition is rejected in limine.
Sd/-
JUDGE KTY