Supreme Court of India
XXX versus THE STATE OF KERALA & ORS. on 22 November 2021
[2021] 7 S.C.R. 1115
XXX
v.
THE STATE OF KERALA & ORS.
(Criminal Appeal No. 1444/2021)
NOVEMBER 22, 2021
[VINEET SARAN AND ANIRUDDHA BOSE, JJ.]
Practice and Procedure – Recall of earlier order – By orderdated 20.04.2021, FIR quashed by High Court by a detailedreasoned order – Thereafter, on 28.04.2021, High Court took upthe matter suo moto and recalled the order dated 20.04.2021 –Propriety of – Held: Not proper – In view of s.362 CrPC, the Courtdoes not have the power to alter the judgment and order once passed,except to correct the clerical or arithmetical error – There is nopower, except u/s.362 CrPC, which only provides for correction ofany clerical or arithmetical error – The same does not empower thecourt to recall the earlier order passed after contest and that toosuo moto – Earlier order dated 20.04.2021 was wrongly recalled bythe High Court – Order dated 28.04.2021 set aside – Code ofCriminal Procedure, 1973 – s.362.
CRIMINAL APPELLATE JURISDICTION: Criminal Appeal No.1444 of 2021.
From the Judgment and Order dated 28.04.2021 of the High Courtof Kerala at Ernakulam in Crl. MC No. 5866 of 2020.
Rajit, Vaibhav Niti, Abraham Mathan, Justine George, Ms. MadhaviAgrawal, Divyanshu Agrawal, Advs. for the Appellant.
G. Prakash, Ms. Priyanka Prakash, Ms. Beena Prakash, AnandKalyanakrishnan, Vedant Singh, Vishisht Singh, Advs. for theRespondents.
The following Order of the Court was passed :
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O R D E R
Leave granted.
An FIR was lodged by the respondent, which was challenged bythe appellant by way of a petition filed before the High Court under
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ASection 482 Cr.P.C. By a judgment and order dated 20.04.2021, theHigh Court allowed the petition and quashed the FIR. Thereafter on28.04.2021, the High Court took up the matter suo moto and recalled theorder dated 20.04.2021. Challenging the same, this appeal by way ofspecial leave petition has been filed.
We have heard the learned counsel for the parties at length andperused the record.
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Learned counsel for the parties do not dispute the fact that inview of Section 362 Cr.P.C. the Court does not have the power to alterthe judgment and order once passed, except to correct the clerical orCarithmetical error. In the present case, by a judgment and order dated20.04.2021 FIR had been quashed by the High Court by a detailedreasoned order, which has been recalled by the impugned order dated28.04.2021. There is no power, except under Section 362 Cr.P.C., whichonly provides for correction of any clerical or arithmetical error. Thesame does not empower the court to recall the earlier order passed afterDcontest and that too suo moto.
In view of the aforesaid, we are of the opinion that the impugnedorder dated 28.04.2021 could not have been passed and the earlierorder dated 20.04.2021 has wrongly been recalled by the High Court.Accordingly, the appeal is allowed. The judgment and order datedE28.04.2021 is set aside.
Bibhuti Bhushan Bose
Appeal allowed.
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