Messrs MALIK & COMPANY through Sole Proprietor and others vs MUSLIM
This appeal impugned the judgment and decree dated 17-4-2001 along with its amendment dated 9-7-2001 passed by the Banking Court. The core legal question concerned the legality of amending the original decree to add the principal debt amount which had been inadvertently omitted from the initial decree, leaving only the mark-up amount. The Lahore High Court held that the omission of the principal amount in the original decree was a clear clerical or calculation oversight, as the intent of the judgment was to decree the suit in terms of the plaint. The Court modified the impugned decree to correctly reflect the total claimed sum of Rs.13,18,171.58 along with mark-up. The key principle laid down is that courts possess the inherent authority to rectify obvious calculation omissions in decrees to ensure they align with the substantive judgment and the pleadings.
- Can a court amend a decree to include the principal debt amount if it was inadvertently omitted from the original decretal sum?
- Whether a banking court's judgment intending to decree a suit in terms of the plaint can be corrected for calculation errors?
- Is a decree sustainable when it only awards mark-up while omitting the principal sum claimed in the suit?
- Bankers' Books Evidence Act 1891
' JAWWAD S. KHAWAJA, J.---This appeal impugns the judgment and decree dated 17-4-2001, which was amended by order dated 9-7-2001.
2. The case of the appellants-defendants is that the amendment in the original decree, whereby a sum of Rs,9,96,301.28, was added to the original decretal amount of Rs,5,21,503, was not legally sustainable.
3. The facts of this case are straightforward. The respondent-Bank filed a suit against the appellants seeking recovery of a sum of Rs,13,18,171.58 together with mark-up thereon at the agreed rate. The appellants-defendants filed an application seeking leave to appear and defend. However, on 20-3-2001, the respondent-Bank was directed to file in Court a complete statement of accounts as required by the Bankers' Books Evidence Act. This was done on 11-4-2001.
4. The application seeking leave to appear and defend was dismissed by the learned Banking Court on 17-4-2001. A judgment in terms of the plaint for the amount set out in the statement of accounts was intended to be passed by the learned Banking Court. However, we note that instead of decreeing the suit of the Bank for the principal amount and the mark-up thereon, the learned Banking Court passed a decree for Rs,5,21,503.17, which was the amount of mark-up only. The amount of Rs,9,96,301.28, which was the principal amount of the debt owed by the appellants- defendants, was not included in the decree.
5. The judgment in its terms is clear. We have no doubt whatsoever that it was only on account of non-calculation of the principal amount that the decree was originally passed for a sum of Rs,5,21,503.17, only.
6. Faced with the above situation, learned counsel for the appellants states that even in the plaint the amount prayed for by the Bank was Rs,13,18,171.58 together with mark-up thereon. The learned Banking Court through the aforesaid amendment passed a decree for Rs, 15,17,804.45 together with mark-up and other charges thereon.
' In the foregoing circumstances, we modify the impugned decree and decree the suit of the respondent-Bank for a sum of Rs,13,18,171.58 together with mark-up thereon from 29-4-2000 onwards.
' The appeal is decided in the above terms.
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- Silk Bank Limited, Karachi vs M/S. Dewan Sugar Mills Limited, Karachi 2011 P.C.T.L.R. 1268
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- ALLIED BANK LIMITED vs MUSLIM COTTON MILLS PRIVATE LIMITED and 3 others 2011 CLD 393
- Habib Metropolitan Bank Limited, Karachi vs Mian Abdul Jabbar Gihllin And Another 2013 P.C.T.L.R. 294