Hon’ble Supreme Court clarifies: Amendments to complaints under Section 138 NI Act permissible if no prejudice to accused

Name of the Case: Bansal Milk Chilling Centre v. Rana Milk Food Private Ltd. & Anr.

Citation: 2025 INSC 899

Hon’ble Supreme Court’s Bench: Justice B.V. Nagarathna and Justice K. V. Viswanathan

Date: 25.07.2025

In a recent ruling, the Hon’ble Supreme Court set aside a decision by the Hon’ble Punjab & Haryana High Court wherein the Hon’ble High Court ruled against allowing an amendment in a complaint filed under Section 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act. The amendment in question sought to replace ‘Desi Ghee’ with ‘Milk’ owing to a typographical error, which was initially allowed by the trial court. The Hon’ble High Court, found the error substantial and indicative of GST avoidance, consequently reversing the trial court’s decision. The Hon’ble Apex Court however, asserted that such an amendment did not alter the nature of the complaint.

The Hon’ble Apex Court clarified that criminal courts can permit amendments even post-cognizance, provided they do not prejudice the accused and further emphasised that procedural flexibility must not obstruct justice where defects are curable and the stage of trial permits fair rebuttal. Accordingly, the Trial Court’s order allowing the amendment was restored, and the trial was directed to proceed expeditiously¹. 

1. https://www.sci.gov.in/view-pdf/?diary_no=519432024&type=j&order_date=2025-07-25&from=latest_judgements_order 
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