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THE FIRST SCHEDULE · ORDER VII Plaint

Order VII Rule 11: Rejection of plaint

The Code of Civil Procedure, 1908

The plaint shall be rejected in the following cases:—

(a) where it does not disclose a cause of action;

(b) where the relief claimed is undervalued, and the plaintiff, on being required by the Court to correct the valuation within a time to be fixed by the Court, fails to do so;

(c) where the relief claimed is properly valued, but the plaint is returned upon paper insufficiently stamped, and the plaintiff, on being required by the Court to supply the requisite stamp-paper within a time to be fixed by the Court, fails to do so;

(d) where the suit appears from the statement in the plaint to be barred by any law;

1[(e) where it is not filed in duplicate;]

2[(f) where the plaintiff fails to comply with the provisions of rule 9:]

3[Provided that the time fixed by the Court for the correction of the valuation or supplying of the requisite stamp-paper shall not be extended unless the Court, for reasons to be recorded, is satisfied that the plaintiff was prevented by any cause of an exceptional nature from correcting the valuation or supplying the requisite stamp-paper, as the case may be, within the time fixed by the Court and that refusal to extend such time would cause grave injustice to the plaintiff.]

Footnotes in the official text

  1. 1.Ins. by Act 46 of 1999, s. 17 (w.e.f. 1-7-2002).
  2. 2.Subs. by Act 22 of 2002, s. 8, for sub-clauses (f) and (g) (w.e.f. 1-7-2002).
  3. 3.Added by Act 104 of 1976, s. 57 (w.e.f. 1-2-1977).

Leading cases

Questions on this rule

24 questions in 55 of our papers cite Order VII Rule 11. Try these from the free papers:

  1. 1. In Prem Lala Nahata v. Chandi Prasad Sikaria (2007), the defendant sought rejection of a plaint under Order VII Rule 11(d) of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908, contending that the suit was bad for misjoinder of plaintiffs and of causes of action. The Supreme Court held that:

  2. 2. In Patil Automation Pvt. Ltd. v. Rakheja Engineers Pvt. Ltd. (2022), the Supreme Court held that a commercial suit which does not contemplate urgent interim relief, but is instituted without exhausting pre-institution mediation under Section 12A of the Commercial Courts Act, 2015:

  3. 3. Assertion (A): An order rejecting a plaint under Order VII Rule 11 CPC bars the plaintiff from presenting a fresh plaint on the same cause of action. Reason (R): An order rejecting a plaint is deemed to be a decree under Section 2(2) of the Code.

Practise questions on Civil Procedure Code