Open iDraf
Sow Chandra Kanta And Another v. Sheik Habib

Sow Chandra Kanta And Another
v.
Sheik Habib

(Supreme Court Of India)

Review Petition No. 62-A Of 1974 | 13-03-1975


Krishna Iyer, J.

1. Mr. Daphtary, learned counsel for the petitioners, has argued at length all the points which were urged at the earlier stage when we refused special leave thus making out that a review proceeding virtually amounts to a re- hearing. May be. we were not right in refusing special leave right in the first round but, once an order has been passed by this Court a review thereof must be subject to the rules of the game and cannot be lightly entertained.A review of a judgment is a serious step and reluctant resort to it is proper only where a glaring omission or patent mistake or like grave error has crept in earlier by judicial fallibility. A mere repetition through different counsel of old and overruled arguments, a second trip over ineffectually covered ground or minor mistakes of inconsequential import are obviously insufficient. The very strict need for compliance with these factors is the rationale behind the insistence of counsels certificate which should not be a routine affair or a habitual step. It is neither fairness to the court which decided nor awareness of the precious public time lost what with a huge back-log of dockets waiting in the queue for disposal, for counsel to issue easy certificates for entertainment of review and fight over again the same battle which has been fought and lost. The Bench and the Bar, we are sure, are jointly concerned in the conservation of judicial time for maximum use. We regret to say that this case is typical of the unfortunate but frequent phenomenon of repeat performance with the review label as passport. Nothing which we did not hear then has been heard now, except a couple of rulings on points earlier put forward. May be as counsel now urges and then pressed, our order refusing special leave was capable of a different course. The present stage is not a virgin ground but review of an earlier order which has the normal feature of finality.

2. We dismiss the petition unhesitatingly, but with these observations hopefully.

3. Petition dismissed.

Advocates List

For the Petitioners C.K. Daphtary, Sr. Advocate, M/s. S.K. Dholakia, R.S. Bhatia, Advocates. For the Respondent S.B. Tambwaker, Advocate.

For Petitioner
  • Shekhar Naphade
  • Mahesh Agrawal
  • Tarun Dua
For Respondent
  • S. Vani
  • B. Sunita Rao
  • Sushil Kumar Pathak

Bench List

HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE V.R. KRISHNA IYER

HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE R.S. SARKARIA

Eq Citation

(1975) 1 SCC 674

[1975] 3 SCR 933

AIR 1975 SC 1500

LQ/SC/1975/115

HeadNote

Constitution of India — Arts. 137 and 136 — Review — Proper scope of — Mere repetition of old and overruled arguments, second trip over ineffectually covered ground or minor mistakes of inconsequential import not sufficient — A review of a judgment is a serious step and reluctant resort to it is proper only where a glaring omission or patent mistake or like grave error has crept in earlier by judicial fallibility — Counsel's certificate for entertainment of review should not be a routine affair or a habitual step — Bench and Bar are jointly concerned in the conservation of judicial time for maximum use — Practice and Procedure — Review — Proper scope of — Bar and Bench — Judicial time — Conservation of