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Asha Ram (D) Thr. LRs & Ors. v. U.P. Awas Evam Vikash Parishad & Anr.

Civil Appeal · 2021 INSC 847Decided 8 Dec 2021
Civil Appeal No. 384 of 2021
Justice Uday Umesh Lalit · Justice Hemant Gupta · Justice S. Ravindra Bhat

Background

This was a batch of review petitions (including the one tied to Diary No. 10593/2021) filed by landowners who were dissatisfied with the Supreme Court's own earlier judgment fixing the compensation payable for their acquired land at Rs.120 per square yard. The landowners sought to have that judgment reconsidered, arguing the compensation rate was too low compared to the market value the High Court had earlier determined.

Decision Breakdown

The Court first rejected the landowners' request to have the review petitions heard in open court. On examining the review petitions on their merits, it held that its earlier judgment had already properly considered all the rival submissions and the evidentiary record, including the sale deeds relied upon, before settling on the Rs.120 per square yard rate. Finding no error apparent on the face of the record, the narrow standard required to succeed in a review, the Court dismissed all the review petitions.

Lesson Learnt

A review petition is not a second chance to reargue a case on its merits; it succeeds only where there is an obvious, self-evident error in the original judgment, and courts will not reopen a decision merely because a party remains unhappy with the outcome.

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

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