Order 17 — Pleadings

(1) A statement of claim shall include the relief or remedy which a Plaintiff claims to be entitled to.

(1) Every pleading shall contain a statement in a summary form of the material facts on which the party pleading relies for the claim or defence, as the case may be, but not the evidence by which they are to be proved and shall, when necessary be divided into paragraphs numbered consecutively.

(2) Dates, sums and numbers shall be expressed in figures.

(3) Pleadings shall be signed by a Legal Practitioner or by the party, if the party sues or defends in person.

(1) In all cases in which the party pleading relies on any misrepresentation, fraud, breach of trust, wilful default, or undue influence and in all other cases, in which particulars may be necessary, particulars (with dates and items, if necessary) shall be stated in the pleadings.

(2) In an action for libel or slander, if the Plaintiff alleges that the words or matter complained of were used in a defamatory sense other than their ordinary meaning, the Plaintiff shall give particulars of the facts and matters on which the Plaintiff relies in support of the allegation.

An application for a further and better statement of the nature of the claim or defence, or further and better particulars of any matter stated in any pleadings requiring particulars shall be made to a Judge during the pre-trial conference. The Judge may grant such application upon such terms as may be just.

(1) Every allegation of fact in any pleadings, if not specifically denied in the pleadings of the opposite party, shall be taken as admitted except as against a person under legal disability.

(2) A general denial in any pleadings shall not operate as denial of any specific fact in the pleadings of the opposing party.

Each party shall specify distinctly in the party’s pleadings any condition precedent, the performance or occurrence of which is intended to be contested.

(1) All grounds of defence or reply which makes an action not maintainable or if not raised will take the opposite party by surprise or will raise issues of facts not arising out of the preceding pleadings shall be specifically pleaded.

(2) A party shall specifically plead any ground which make a transaction void or voidable or such matters as fraud, release, payment, performance, facts showing insufficiency in contract or illegality either by an enactment or by common law.

A party may, by the pleadings, join issues upon the pleading of the opposing party and such joinder of issues shall operate as a denial of every material allegation of fact in the pleadings upon which issue is joined except any fact which the party may be willing to admit.

Where the contents of any document are material, it shall be sufficient in any pleadings to state the effect thereof as briefly as possible, without setting out the whole or any part thereof, unless the precise words of the document or any part thereof are material.

Wherever it is material to allege notice to any person of any fact, matter or thing, it shall be sufficient to allege such notice as a fact, unless the form or the precise terms of such notice or the circumstances from which such notice is to be inferred are material.

(1) Where any contract or any relation between any persons is to be implied from a series of letters or conversations, or otherwise from a number of circumstances, it shall be sufficient to allege such contract or relation as a fact, and to refer generally to such letters, conversations or circumstances without setting them out in detail.

(2) If in such case the person so pleading desires to rely, in the alternative, upon more contracts or relations than one as to be implied from such circumstances, the person may state the same in the alternative.

A party may not allege in any pleadings any matter or fact the law presumes in the party’s favour or as to which the burden of proof lies upon the other side, unless the same has first been specifically denied.

In every case in which the cause of action is a stated or settled account, it shall be alleged with particulars but in case of an account, it shall not be sufficient to allege generally that the account is stated or settled.

No technical objection shall be raised to any pleadings on the ground of any alleged want of form.

A Judge may, at the pre-trial conference, in any proceedings order to be struck out or amended, any matter in any endorsement or pleadings which may be unnecessary or scandalous or which may tend to prejudice, embarrass or delay the fair trial of the action; and may in any such case, if the Judge shall deem fit, order costs of the application to be paid as between Legal Practitioner and client.

(1) Wherever it is material to allege malice, fraudulent intention, knowledge or other condition of the mind of any person, it shall be sufficient to allege the same as a fact without setting out the circumstances from which the same is to be inferred.

(2) Where in an action for libel or slander the Defendant pleads that any of the words or matters complained of are fair comment on a matter of public interest or were published upon a privileged occasion, the Plaintiff shall, if he intends to allege that the Defendant was actuated by express malice, deliver a reply giving particulars of the facts and matters from which such malice is to be inferred.

(3) Where in an action for libel or slander the Defendant alleges that in so far as the words complained of consist of statement of fact, they are true in substance and in fact, and in so far as they consist of expressions of opinion, they are fair comment on a matter of public interest, or pleads to the like effect, the Defendant shall give particulars stating which of the facts and matters are relied upon in support of the allegation that the words are true.

(1) A Judge may, at any stage of the proceedings, order to be struck out or amended any pleadings or the indorsement of any writ in the action, or anything in any pleadings or in the indorsement on the ground that:

(a) it discloses no reasonable cause of action or defence as the case may be; or

(b) it is scandalous, frivolous or vexatious; or

(c) it may prejudice, embarrass or delay the fair trial of the action; or

(d) it is otherwise an abuse of the process of the Court;

and may order the action to be stayed or dismissed or judgment to be entered accordingly, as the case may be.

(2) No evidence shall be admissible upon an application under paragraph (1)(a) of this Rule.

(3) This Rule shall, so far as applicable, apply to an originating summons and a petition as if the summons or petition, as the case may be, were a pleading.

(4) No proceedings shall be open to objection on the ground that only a declaratory judgment or order is sought thereby, and a Judge may make a binding declaration of right whether any consequential relief is or could be claimed or not.

(1) Where a pleading subsequent to reply is not ordered, then, at the expiration of 7 days from the service of the defence or reply (if a reply has been filed) pleadings shall be deemed closed.

(2) Where a pleading subsequent to reply is ordered, and the party who has been ordered or given leave to file the same fails to do so within the period limited for that purpose, then, at the expiration of the period so limited the pleadings shall be deemed closed:

Provided that this Rule shall not apply to a defence to counterclaim, and unless the Plaintiff files a defence to counterclaim, the statements of fact contained in such counterclaim shall, at the expiration of 14 days from the service thereof or of such time (if any) as may by order be allowed for filing of a defence thereto, be deemed to be admitted, but the Judge may at any subsequent time give leave to the Plaintiff to file a defence to counterclaim.