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Enforcement Directorate, Government of India vs. Kapil Wadhawan & Anr.

Criminal Appeal · 2023 INSC 1090Decided 24 Apr 2023
Criminal Appeal Nos. 701-702 of 2020

Background

This is not a fresh judgment but a short clarificatory order arising from the Enforcement Directorate's case against Kapil Wadhawan (a promoter of the DHFL group, prosecuted under money-laundering law). The Supreme Court had earlier, on 27 March 2023, delivered a judgment answering a legal question referred to it about default bail under Section 167(2) of the Code of Criminal Procedure. The Enforcement Directorate filed an interlocutory application asking the Court to clarify paragraph 51 of that judgment, seeking confirmation that the March judgment only decided the specific legal question referred to the larger bench, and that other pending issues in the appeal remained open for a different bench to decide.

Decision Breakdown

The Court allowed the clarification application and rephrased paragraph 51 of its earlier judgment. The revised paragraph confirms that the Bombay High Court's order granting Kapil Wadhawan default bail (by applying the proviso to Section 167(2)(a)(ii) CrPC) was correct and is upheld, in line with the answer given to the specific legal question that had been referred to this Court. However, the Court expressly clarified that any other pending issues arising from the appeals are left open to be decided by an appropriate bench of the Supreme Court at a later stage: the March judgment was not intended to finally dispose of the entire appeal.

Lesson Learnt

When the Supreme Court answers a specific legal question referred to it, that ruling does not automatically dispose of every other issue in the underlying case; parties can and do seek clarification to confirm the precise scope of what was actually decided, so that unresolved issues can still be argued before the appropriate bench.

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

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