Supreme Court Rules, 2013– Ordinarily and in the usual course, this Court would be averse and opposed to entertaining miscellaneous applications in disposed of cases -When the individual facts of a particular case so warrant, there can be no bar to entertaining a clarification/modification petition in a disposed of case. This would necessarily depend on the facts and circumstances of that individual case. Notably, Rule 6 of Order LV of the Supreme Court Rules, 2013, states that nothing in the said Rules shall be deemed to limit or otherwise affect the inherent powers of the Court to make such orders as may be necessary for the ends of justice or to prevent abuse of the process of the Court. Therefore, if any such abuse of process is noticed after the disposal of the case or if a modification is found essential to meet the ends of justice, this Court would be justified in entertaining an application in a disposed of case and exercising such power. (Para 12) Our legal system acknowledges the fallibility of Judges. Though this observation was made in the context of Judges of the District Judiciary, it would be equally applicable to those in higher echelons of the judicial hierarchy – As Courts of record, it is necessary that Constitutional Courts recognize errors that may have crept into their judicial orders and rectify the same when called upon to do so- The Court always has the power to rectify any mistake committed by it. Being the Court of the last resort, this Court would not shy away from acknowledging any mistakes in its orders and would be ready to set right such wrongs- the power of recall is different from the power of altering/ reviewing a judgment. It was held therein that if an order is pronounced without giving an opportunity of hearing to a party affected by it, inherent powers of the Court can be exercised to recall such an order. (Para 10-14)
Natural Justice– No adverse order should be passed against a party without hearing it. This is the fundamental principle of natural justice and it is a basic canon of jurisprudence. (Para 14)