SANTOSH KUMAR SAHOO Vs. RADHANATH SAHOO

JUDGEMENT

(1.) HEARD Mr. Pattnaik, learned counsel for the petitioner and Mr. Samal, learned counsel appearing for the opposite parties.

(2.) THIS writ petition arises out of an order passed by the learned Civil Judge (Senior Division), First Court, Cuttack in C.S.No. 234 of 2003, which was filed for partition. The defendants are opposite parties, who have entered appearance through their learned counsel. The suit was finally decreed on compromise before the Permanent and Continuous Lok Adalat. Basing on the said decree, when the parties wanted to mutate their respective lands allotted to them in the final decree, they found that there was a mistake in the description of the suit property mentioned in the final decree drawn up in the stamp paper in respect of the Khata number. An application was filed for correction of the final decree. The learned Civil Judge rejected the said prayer by the impugned order on the ground that the final decree has been drawn up in stamp paper and the said mistake is not a mistake of the Court while drawing up the final decree, which is drawn up in accordance with the compromise petition, which forms a part of the decree and in that event, any correction made would be beyond the parameters of law.

(3.) MR . Patnaik, learned counsel for the petitioner relied upon the decision in the case of Peethani Suryanarayana and another v. Repaka Venkata Ramana Kishore and others, (2009) II SCC 308. The Supreme Court in the said case was dealing with a similar situation where in a final decree, a Town Survey number was required to be corrected, which was also mentioned in the plaint. The Supreme Court in such situation held that the power of Court to allow such an application for amendment of the plaint is neither in doubt nor in dispute. Such a wide power on the part of the Court circumscribed by the factors viz. (i) the application must be bona fide; (ii) the same should not cause injustice to the other side; (iii) it should not affect the right already accrued to the defendants.