Joint Written Statement cannot be amended by a defendant unless all other defendants provide their express consent.

In the matter of Smt. Chanda Kedia & Anr vs Dwarika Prasad Kedia & Anr, matters under Article 227 No. 9337 of 2023 decided by the Hon’ble High Court of Allahabad on 16.04.2024

FACTS: A suit for injunction was filed before the Civil Judge (Senior Division), Gorakhpur. In response to the plaint, a joint written statement was filed by the defendants.  Subsequently an application was filed for amendment of the written statement by one of the defendants. The application was opposed by the plaintiffs, wherein one of the grounds raised was that the amendment was sought by only one defendant and not all the defendants, therefore the application for amendment should be rejected. The Civil Judge (Senior Division), Gorakhpur rejected the amendment application vide order dated 16.12.2022. On a revision being filed against the order dated 16.12.2022, the Revisional Court vide order dated 26.07.2023 set aside the order dated 16.12.2022 and remanded the matter back to Civil Judge (Senior Division), Gorakhpur to decide it afresh. The order dated 26.07.2023 was challenged before the High Court of Allahabad.

ISSUE: Whether a defendant can move application for amendment of a joint written statement without other defendants being signatory to it?

ANALYSIS: The Hon’ble High Court of Allahabad observed that the application to amend the written statement was moved by defendant no.1. and not all the defendants. The Court relied upon the judgement of a coordinate bench of the Allahabad High Court in Narendra Singh vs Bhartendra Singh 2000 (1) AWC 719 wherein the Court held that a joint written statement cannot be amended at the behest of a single defendant when the other defendants do not join for the same.

The Court held that when defendants file a joint written statement which reflects their joint defense, filing of an application for amendment by one or more defendants to the exclusion of other defendants will be barred. The Court held that one or more defendants can only move an application for amendment with express consent of all the defendants party to the joint written statement.

DJ – 08 – 2024