Amendment of Pleadings -- Withdrawal of Admissions -- Clear and categorical admissions cannot ordinarily be withdrawn by amendment
(i) Civil Procedure Code, 1908, O.6 R.17 -- Amendment of Pleadings -- Withdrawal of Admissions -- A party cannot ordinarily be permitted to withdraw clear and categorical admissions made in its pleadings, particularly where such admissions have conferred a valuable right upon the opposite party -- Mere delay in isolation may not be fatal to an amendment application, but its impact cannot be overlooked where the proposed amendment seeks to withdraw clear admissions and fundamentally alter the earlier stand -- In such circumstances, delay assumes a material character, more so where no satisfactory explanation has been furnished. (ii) Civil Procedure Code, 1908, O.6 R.17 -- Amendment of Written Statement -- Substitution of Contrary Case -- Delay of Four Years -- Where a proposed amendment does not merely elaborate or clarify the defence but completely displaces earlier admissions and substitutes an entirely contrary case, it cannot be permitted -- Delay of more than four years in seeking such amendment assumes considerable significance -- A belated attempt to resile from earlier pleadings under the guise of mistake is neither bona fide nor tenable and cannot be justified as a case of subsequent discovery of facts.
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