Pleadings

The object of pleadings is to define the issues, not to penalize a party for a bona fide clerical error.

Suit filed by appellant/pre-emptor was decreed in his favour by Trial Court and Lower Appellate Court but High Court in exercise of revisional jurisdiction dismissed the suit on the ground of limitation

Validity

Mere assertion in pleadings was not beneficial at all unless established through evidence in the light of pleadings

Fraud had to be pleaded from the beginning with full particulars of fraud and then should be established through evidence

Supreme Court declined to interfere in judgment and decree passed by High Court as the suit filed by appellant/pre-emptor was barred by limitation

Appeal was dismissed.

Party cannot lead or take a different stance from what it has pleaded in its application or plaint and written statement/written reply.

A party cannot be allowed to argue a new ground, which is not raised in the memo of petition, unless specifically permitted by court to argue.

Mere pleadings unless corroborated by qualitative evidence could not be based for the decision of the lis nor the evidence without pleadings could provide any benefit

Mere pleadings of a party cannot be treated as substitute for proof

No litigant can be allowed to build and prove his case beyond the scope of his pleadings.

Pleadings itself is not evidence at all, and pleadings without evidence cannot be taken into consideration as proof of a particular fact nor the evidence without pleadings can substantiate a particular version.

Evidence out of pleading could not be considered or discussed and same should be ignored while deciding the lis.

Pleadings of parties are not substantive piece of evidence unless and until the averments made in the pleadings are proved from the evidence in court or admitted by the other party.

Rule 4 of Order VI of the C.P.C. explicitly provides that in all cases in which the party pleading relies, inter alia, on fraud, it shall state in the pleadings particulars with dates and items if necessary

Ingredients of fraud have to be narrated and stated by giving particulars thereof

Fraud must be specifically alleged and its particulars unequivocally stated

General allegations, however strong the words may be, are insufficient to constitute an assertion of fraud and vague allegations in a plaint are not enough.

According to the principles of pleadings, once an assertion is duly recorded, its specifics need not be detailed therein.

Once a material fact is admitted by a party in pleadings, he cannot retreat therefrom either way through amendment in pleadings or otherwise.

Claim of the plaintiff was that due to criminal case lodged by the defendant , he lost his reputation in the eyes of general public as well as friends and he was also detained in jail for a sufficient period till he was bailed out by the Court and that after full-dressed trial, he was acquitted

Civil Court rejected the plaint , which order was maintained by the Appellate Court

Validity

From the record ( averment of plaint, the impugned orders, the judgment of acquittal ) it would not be possible to say that the plaint did not have any proof of the four elements required in a suit for malicious prosecution

Basic contentions of the appellant/plaintiff were clearly contained in the plaint

The question of proof would arise only after issues are framed and the opportunity to lead evidence is given to the parties

The plaint is to contain the facts, which it clearly contained and the manner in which the same would be proved was up to the appellant/plaintiff

This was not a case where on a plain reading of the plaints no cause of action existed for malicious prosecution, especially owing to the FIR which was lodged, the appellant/plaintiff faced full-dressed trial, the subsequent acquittal and the nature of allegations in the plaints

In view of the provisions of the O. VI, R.2, C.P.C., 1908 , the pleading is not a substitute of the evidence

In such circumstances, without providing opportunity to the appellant / plaintiff to prove his pleadings through evidence , it would not be just and proper to reject the plaint

Even , in such like cases, the Courts may not consider the defence brought by the opponent

Thus, the plaint , in the present case, was not liable to be rejected in a summary manner under O. VII, R. 11, C.P.C

High Court set aside impugned judgment passed by the Appellate Court as well as order passed by the Trial Court and remanded the back to the Trial Court with direction to decide the suit afresh after recording evidence of the parties

Appeal filed by the plaintiff was allowed accordingly.

Pleadings are formal statements made by parties of their respective claims and defenses for the purpose of determining issues to be adjudicated

Court cannot set up a different plea for a party and decide the case on that basis.

Written statement by itself has no evidentiary value unless deponent of pleadings (plaint or written statement) enters into witness box to lead evidence.

In cases of fraud, undue influence and coercion, parties' pleadings must set forth full particulars and the case can only be decided on such particulars

Mere allegation of fraud, misrepresentation and coercion not supported by any material does not invariably warrant inquiry or investigation in each case.

Plaintiff cannot lead evidence beyond the pleadings.

Rule of secundum allegata et probata, not only excludes the element of surprise, but also precludes the party from proving what has not been alleged or pleaded

No party can be allowed to lead evidence on a fact which has not been specifically pleaded nor can any evidence be looked into which is outside the scope of pleadings.

Plea not taken in pleadings cannot be allowed to be proved and no evidence can be led or looked into to support such plea.

Material facts on which the party relies for his claim are called factum probanda (material facts) and these must be stated in the pleadings

Fact(s) by means of which factum probanda are proved and which are in the nature of factum probantia (particulars or evidence) need not be set out in the pleadings; they are not facts in issue, but only relevant facts required to be proved at the trial in order to establish the fact in issue.

Parties are required to lead evidence in consonance with their pleadings and no evidence can be led or looked into in support of a plea, which has not been taken in pleadings

Party is required to plead facts necessary to seek relief claimed and to prove it through evidence of unimpeachable character.

Parties cannot travel beyond the scope of pleadings and even evidence led outside the pleadings has no relevance and value.

Particulars of fraud are to be explicitly stated in pleadings.

Recitals of plaint and written statement had no value in the eyes of law until and unless those were proved by trustworthy, reliable, cogent and confidence inspiring evidence

Mere admission in written statement by owner of land that too in a joint written statement was not sufficient to prove that he gifted out land through mutations in question to respondent/defendant, especially when possession of land was with appellants/plaintiffs and ingredients of Hibba (Gift) were not fulfilled

It was not proved on record as to when, where and in whose presence such offer of making oral Hibba (Gift) was made and was accepted and thereafter possession was delivered to respondent/defendant

It had come on record through Record of Rights that land in possession of tenant was not in pursuance of alleged oral Hibba (Gift)

Respondent/defendant failed to discharge his onus with regard to alleged oral Hibba (Gift) in favour of his predecessor-in-interest, as claimed by him

High Court set aside judgments and decrees passed by two Courts below as the same were contrary to law and failed to determine pivotal issue while applying independent judicious mind and considering law on the subject in the right way

Second appeal was allowed accordingly.

Alleged fact which has not been agitated in the plaint cannot be brought in evidence and even if the same is brought in evidence through oral or documentary evidence, the courts are not bound to rely on it.

Judgment has to be based on pleadings of the parties and a Court cannot travel beyond pleadings.

Point which is not taken in the pleadings by a party cannot be made basis for giving him the relief.

Question as to whether a lady is Pardanashin or not is always a question of fact which should be specifically pleaded and proved by some cogent evidence and is not to be used as weapon or shield to defend the lawsuit under the garb of this plea at original or appellate stage.

No party can lead evidence beyond the pleadings.

Parties are bound by their pleadings and evidence beyond the pleadings cannot be considered.

Fact not asserted in the pleadings cannot be proved by producing evidence and even if an iota of evidence is led, that has to be ignored.

When a case is instituted on the basis of oral agreement, minute detail of each and every event has to be pleaded and proved.

Plaintiff filed suit for specific performance on the basis of an oral agreement to sell and sought cancellation of mutation against the defendants

One of the defendants (to whom the suit property was sold by other defendants) filed a suit for possession of the suit property on the basis of mutation

Suit filed by plaintiff was concurrently decreed

Validity

Plaintiff had failed to plead and prove the time, date and place of alleged transaction of oral agreement

Plaintiff had not even pleaded the names of witnesses in whose presence bargain of oral agreement was stuck

No receipts with regard to payment of the sale consideration had been brought on record

Description of the suit property had not been given in the plaint

Oral agreement was arrived at between the parties as back as in the year 1975 and the suit was instituted in the year 2002

Suit was barred by limitation

Defendant had a mutation in his favour which had been entered, sanctioned and incorporated in the revenue record after due process, thus, he was entitled to the decree for possession because he was lawful owner of the disputed property

Civil revision was allowed, judgments and decrees passed by courts below were set aside and the suit filed by defendant was decreed.

Where material fact is not pleaded in written statement, neither any evidence can be allowed nor, if recorded is admissible in law.

Imperative for plaintiff to prove his case independently and without merely getting any support or flaws/lapses, if any, of his adversary.

Pleadings of parties are not evidence, and facts alleged in pleadings must be proved through evidence of a party which claims existence of such facts.

Parties are bound by their pleadings and cannot urge to the contrary at the hearing.

Courts have to decide the cases on the basis of pleadings of the parties and material propositions raised, in the light of proof brought on record.

Courts have to decide the cases on the basis of pleadings of the parties and material propositions raised, in the light of proof brought on record.

Person claiming a right or interest in a property was bound to prove a case pleaded by it through valid reasonable oral as well as documentary evidence acceptable by the court.

Party, therefore, was required to plead facts necessary to seek relief claimed and to prove it through evidence of an unimpeachable character.

In cases where the sale was pleaded through oral agreement, the terms and conditions which were orally agreed were to be stated in detail in the pleadings and were to be established through evidence

In such like cases, the plaintiff besides detailing subject matter of the sale, (had to mention) the consideration, detail of striking of the bargain, name of the witnesses in whose presence the said oral agreement to sale was arrived at between the parties and other necessary details for proving the sale agreement as if it would have been executed in writing.

Petitioner-purchaser had alleged that an oral agreement for sale of the subject land was made between the parties but the particulars of the land and of the oral agreement were not detailed in the plaint

Land sought to be purchased was not particularized in the plaint, and the witnesses of the said oral agreement (if any) were also not mentioned

Furthermore plaintiffs did not set out the particulars of such oral agreement as per the two prescribed forms for a plaint seeking specific performance provided in Appendix A of C.P.C. or as nearly as may be thereto, and also did not describe the land which was the subject matter of the agreement

Subject agreement would, therefore, be void for uncertainty in terms of section 29 of the Contract Act, 1872 and consequently, it could not be specifically enforced as stipulated by S. 21(c) of the Specific Relief Act, 1877

Petition for leave to appeal was dismissed and leave was refused.

Pleadings could not be considered or equated with the evidence of the parties.

Pleadings were to be confined to a statement of material facts; it shall be presumed that reliance would be placed on such facts and what legal effects emerged from such facts need not be stated in the pleadings in order to seek the relief

Failure to state the legal effects, therefore, could not even be regarded as an omission in law much less fatal to any legal proceedings

In fact stating legal effects in the pleadings was regarded as lack of regard for the rules of pleadings.

Written statement cannot be considered as evidence.

Where no specific plea is taken by either party, evidence with regard to such plea even brought on record cannot be considered.

Party can only succeed according to what was alleged and proved.

Mere pleadings cannot be made basis of a decree and similarly only evidence cannot be considered for grant of decree vice versa

Pleadings are required to be proved in terms of provisions of Qanun-e-Shahadat, 1984.

Particulars of evidence need not to be mentioned in plaint and it can be produced during recording of evidence.

Mentioning the names of witness in whose presence the oral agreement to sell was arrived, is material.