Abhinitam Upadhyay vs Hon'ble Allahabad High Court Through Its Registrar General
Background
The petitioner, appearing in person, had earlier filed a Special Leave Petition against the Allahabad High Court (through its Registrar General) which was disposed of by an order dated 5 July 2021. Dissatisfied with that outcome, he filed this review petition asking the Supreme Court to reconsider its own earlier order, and also sought an oral hearing on the review.
Decision Breakdown
The Court first dismissed the application for an oral hearing in the review petition. It then examined the grounds raised in the review petition itself and found that none of them disclosed any "error apparent on the face of the record": the narrow standard required to reopen a final order in review (as opposed to a full re-argument of the case on merits). Finding no such error, the Bench declined to entertain the review and dismissed it.
Lesson Learnt
A review petition is not a second appeal. The Supreme Court will only reopen a final order if there is a glaring, self-evident error on the face of the record, not merely because a litigant disagrees with the earlier outcome or wants to re-argue the case.