The Plaint

A specimen plaint

Written from Rule 1, item by item, so the shape of the document is visible. The bracketed notes are ours and would not appear in a real plaint.

IN THE CITY CIVIL COURT AT BOMBAY

[item (a), the name of the Court]

S. C. Suit No. ____ of 2026

Meera Deshpande, aged 34 years, occupation business,

residing at 12 Sahyadri Apartments, Thane West, Thane 400601

... Plaintiff

[item (b), name, description and place of residence]

versus

Nilesh Kulkarni, aged 41 years, occupation trader,

residing at 8 Gokhale Road, Nashik 422001

... Defendant

[item (c), the same for the defendant, so far as ascertainable]

PLAINT

1. The Plaintiff is a dealer in industrial fittings and the Defendant is a trader carrying on business at Nashik.

2. By an agreement made at Mumbai on 4 March 2026, the Defendant agreed to sell and deliver to the Plaintiff 200 units of brass valves for a total price of Rs. 4,50,000 (Rupees Four Lakh Fifty Thousand only), delivery to be made at Pune on or before 30 April 2026, the price being paid in advance at Mumbai.

[item (e), the facts constituting the cause of action, with dates and with the sum in figures and words as Order VI Rule 2(3) requires]

3. The Plaintiff paid the said sum of Rs. 4,50,000 (Rupees Four Lakh Fifty Thousand only) to the Defendant at Mumbai on 6 March 2026.

4. The Defendant has failed and neglected to deliver the said goods or any part of them. The Plaintiff called upon the Defendant to deliver or to refund by notice dated 15 May 2026, to which the Defendant has not replied.

5. The cause of action arose on 30 April 2026, when the Defendant failed to deliver, and continued thereafter.

[item (e), second limb, when the cause of action arose]

6. The agreement was made at Mumbai and the price was payable at Mumbai, and the cause of action has therefore arisen, wholly or in part, within the local limits of the jurisdiction of this Hon'ble Court. This Hon'ble Court has pecuniary jurisdiction to try this suit.

[item (f), the facts showing jurisdiction, not a bare assertion]

7. The Plaintiff values the suit for the purposes of jurisdiction and of court fees at Rs. 4,50,000 and has paid court fees accordingly.

[item (i)]

8. The Plaintiff has neither allowed any set-off nor relinquished any portion of his claim.

[item (h)]

9. The Plaintiff therefore prays that this Hon'ble Court be pleased:

(a) to direct the Defendant to pay to the Plaintiff the sum of Rs. 4,50,000 with interest thereon at such rate and for such period as this Hon'ble Court deems fit;

(b) to award costs of this suit;

(c) to grant such further and other relief as the nature and circumstances of the case may require.

[item (g), the relief claimed]

Mumbai

Dated this ___ day of _____ 2026

Plaintiff

Advocate for the Plaintiff

Notice what is not in it. No law is cited. No evidence is described. No mention of the delivery challan or of who will give evidence. That is Order VI Rule 2 doing its work: material facts, and only those.

Return of the plaint: Rule 10

Rule 10(1): subject to Rule 10A, the plaint shall at any stage of the suit be returned to be presented to the Court in which the suit should have been instituted. The Explanation declares that a Court of appeal or revision may direct the return of the plaint after setting aside the decree.

Rule 10(2): on returning a plaint the Judge shall endorse on it the date of its presentation and of its return, the name of the party presenting it, and a brief statement of the reasons for returning it.

Rule 10A softens the practical consequence. Where the defendant has already appeared and the Court thinks the plaint should be returned, it must first intimate its decision to the plaintiff. The plaintiff may then apply naming the court he proposes to go to and asking the Court to fix a date for the parties' appearance there. Where it does so, the receiving court need not serve a fresh summons, because the notice of the date operates as one.

The point of Rule 10A is to stop a plaintiff losing the defendant's attendance and starting again from nothing merely because the first court was the wrong one.

Rejection of the plaint: Rule 11

Rule 11 provides that 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, required by the Court to correct the valuation within a fixed time, fails to do so (c) where the relief is properly valued but the plaint is written on insufficiently stamped paper and the plaintiff, required to supply the stamp paper within a fixed time, fails to do so (d) where the suit appears from the statement in the plaint to be barred by any law (e) where it is not filed in duplicate (f) where the plaintiff fails to comply with Rule 9

The proviso provides that time fixed for correcting the valuation or supplying stamp paper shall not be extended unless the Court, for reasons recorded, is satisfied that the plaintiff was prevented by a cause of an exceptional nature and that refusing an extension would cause grave injustice.

The three words that decide most questions on Rule 11

"Shall". Rejection is not discretionary. Once a ground is made out the plaint must be rejected.

"From the statement in the plaint". Clause (d) is confined to what appears on the face of the plaint. The court does not look at the written statement, at documents filed by the defendant, or at the record of some other case. That is why a plea of res judicata cannot be decided under Rule 11(d): establishing it requires the pleadings, issues and judgment of the earlier suit, none of which is part of this plaint. The authority is in [Res Judicata].

"Cause of action" in clause (a) means the plaint, read as a whole and taken at its highest, discloses no right to sue. It is not an occasion to weigh whether the plaintiff will succeed.

Return against rejection

That fourth row is the highest-yield line in this chapter, and it comes from [Definitions]: because rejection is deemed a decree, an appeal lies from it as of right.

What it does not mean

Rejection is not dismissal of the suit on the merits. Rule 13 preserves the right to present a fresh plaint on the same cause of action, so a rejected plaint is not res judicata.

Return is not a punishment. It presupposes a court that lacks jurisdiction, and Rule 10A exists to make the move as painless as possible.

Rule 11(d) is not a general shortcut. It works only where the bar appears from the plaint itself.

Item (f) of Rule 1 is not satisfied by asserting jurisdiction. The facts showing it must be pleaded.

A plaint is not an argument. Order VI Rule 2 governs it: material facts, not evidence, not law.

Quick revision

Order VII Rule 1, nine particulars: the Court; the plaintiff; the defendant; a statement where either is a minor or of unsound mind; the facts constituting the cause of action and when it arose; the facts showing jurisdiction; the relief claimed; any set-off allowed or claim relinquished; and the value for jurisdiction and court fees.

Rule 2: money suits state the precise amount; mesne profits, unsettled accounts, movables in the defendant's possession, and debts of unascertainable value are stated approximately.

Rule 10: the plaint is returned at any stage to be presented to the proper court, with the judge's endorsement of dates, the party and the reasons. Rule 10A: where the defendant has appeared, the court intimates first and may fix a date of appearance in the new court, which then serves as the summons.

Rule 11: the plaint shall be rejected where it discloses no cause of action; on failure to correct an undervaluation; on failure to supply stamp paper; where the suit appears from the statement in the plaint to be barred by any law; where it is not filed in duplicate; and on failure to comply with Rule 9.

Rejection is a decree under section 2(2) and is appealable as one, but a fresh plaint may still be presented under Rule 13.

Test yourself

1. What must a plaint contain? The nine particulars in Order VII Rule 1: the name of the court; the name, description and residence of the plaintiff and of the defendant; a statement where either is a minor or of unsound mind; the facts constituting the cause of action and when it arose; the facts showing the court has jurisdiction; the relief claimed; any set-off allowed or portion of the claim relinquished; and a statement of the value of the subject matter for jurisdiction and court fees.

2. On what grounds shall a plaint be rejected? Where it discloses no cause of action; where the relief is undervalued and the plaintiff fails to correct it in the time fixed; where it is insufficiently stamped and he fails to supply the stamp paper in the time fixed; where the suit appears from the statement in the plaint to be barred by any law; where it is not filed in duplicate; and where the plaintiff fails to comply with Rule 9.

3. Is an order rejecting a plaint appealable? Yes. Section 2(2) deems the rejection of a plaint to be a decree, and a decree is appealable.

4. Can a plaintiff whose plaint has been rejected sue again on the same cause of action? Yes. Order VII Rule 13 preserves the right to present a fresh plaint on the same cause of action, so rejection does not operate as res judicata.

5. What is the difference between return and rejection of a plaint? Return under Rule 10 happens because the suit was filed in the wrong court, and the same plaint is handed back for presentation to the proper court. Rejection under Rule 11 is for a defect in the plaint itself, and it is deemed to be a decree under section 2(2), although a fresh plaint may still be filed.

6. Can the court reject a plaint under Rule 11(d) by looking at the written statement? No. Clause (d) applies only where the suit appears to be barred from the statement in the plaint, so the court is confined to the plaint itself and cannot decide the question on the defendant's material.