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Amit Katyal & Anr. v. State of Haryana & Anr.

Writ Petition (Civil) · 2026 INSC 563Decided 21 May 2026
Miscellaneous Application Diary No. 31664 of 2026 (in Writ Petition (Crl.) No. 67 of 2025)
Justice Pankaj Mithal · Justice Prasanna B. Varale

Background

In an earlier judgment dated 18.05.2026 in Writ Petition (Crl.) No. 67 of 2025, the Court had directed clubbing of two FIRs relating to the same set of allegations: one registered with the Economic Offences Wing (EOW), Delhi (FIR No. 30/2019) and a later one in Gurugram, Haryana (FIR No. 439/2024), to avoid parallel investigations into the same transaction. However, the operative part of that judgment mistakenly directed the earlier Delhi FIR to be clubbed and transferred into the later Haryana FIR, which was the reverse of what the Court's own reasoning (in paragraphs 26-27) intended. The petitioners moved this application seeking correction of that clerical/operative error.

Decision Breakdown

The Court agreed that the relief granted in the original order was inconsistent with its own reasoning, since the Haryana FIR was found to arise from and duplicate the earlier Delhi FIR, it was the later FIR that should be clubbed into the earlier one, not the other way around. The State's objection that this improperly let the accused choose the investigating agency was rejected, since the modification did not select an agency but simply corrected which FIR absorbed which, consistent with the chronology already found in the judgment. The Court accordingly modified its 18.05.2026 order to direct that FIR No. 439/2024 (Gurugram) be clubbed and transferred into FIR No. 30/2019 (EOW, Delhi).

Lesson Learnt

Courts retain the power to correct a mismatch between the reasoning of a judgment and its operative directions through a clarification application, without reopening the merits: a useful reminder that clerical or drafting errors in an order's operative part can be fixed rather than requiring a fresh appeal.

Official source (sci.gov.in)View Judgment (PDF)

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