Striking out pleadings
Full Text
The Court may at any stage of the proceedings order to be struck out or amended any matter in any pleading—
(a) which may be unnecessary, scandalous, frivolous or vexatious, or
(b) which may tend to prejudice, embarrass or delay the fair trail of the suit, or
(c) which is otherwise an abuse of the process of the Court.
Plain English Summary
Empowers the civil court at any stage of proceedings to strike out or amend any portion of a pleading that is unnecessary, scandalous, frivolous, vexatious, prejudicial to a fair trial, or an abuse of judicial process.
Key Legal Elements
- Broad Judicial Prerogative at Any Stage: Invocable before issues, during trial, or even in appeal.
- Three Distinct Statutory Grounds: (a) Unnecessary, scandalous, frivolous, or vexatious; (b) Prejudicial, embarrassing, or delaying fair trial; (c) Abuse of court process.
- Distinguished from Order VII Rule 11: Rule 16 strikes out offending portions/paragraphs; Order VII Rule 11 rejects the entire plaint.
- Striking Out Entire Defense: When the entire defense is frivolous or sham, court can strike out the whole written statement.
Practical Note
Courtroom Weapon against Obnoxious & Scandalous Pleadings: 1. Standard Court Application Header: 'Application on behalf of [Plaintiff/Defendant] under Order VI Rule 16 read with Section 151 CPC for Striking Out Paragraphs [Nos.] of the [Plaint/Written Statement] as Scandalous, Vexatious and Abuse of Process'. 2. Landmark Precedents: — Abdul Razak v. Mangesh Rajaram Wagle (2010) 2 SCC 432: Supreme Court held that the court has plenary power to strike out frivolous, vexatious pleadings or pleadings that are an abuse of the process of the court at any stage. — K.K. Modi v. K.N. Modi (1998) 3 SCC 573: Re-litigation of issues already settled between parties amounts to abuse of process and warrants striking out under Rule 16. 3. Personal Attacks & Defamatory Averments: Where an opponent incorporates scandalous personal allegations (e.g., character assassination, matrimonial infidelity in a commercial/property suit), move immediately under Rule 16(a) to have those lines expunged before evidence commences.
हिंदी पाठ
न्यायालय कार्यवाहियों के किसी भी प्रक्रम में किसी भी अभिवचन में की किसी ऐसी बात को काटे जाने या संशोधित किए जाने का आदेश दे सकेगा—
(क) जो अनावश्यक, कलंकात्मक (Scandalous), तुच्छ या तंग करने वाली (Frivolous or vexatious) हो, या
(ख) जिसकी प्रवृत्ति वाद के निष्पक्ष विचारण पर प्रतिकूल प्रभाव डालने, उसमें उलझन डालने या विलंब करने की हो, या
(ग) जो अन्यथा न्यायालय की प्रक्रिया का दुरुपयोग (Abuse of process) हो।