Export Credit Guarantee Corporation (ECGC) Limited vs Haris Marine Products
Background
Export Credit Guarantee Corporation (ECGC), a public export-credit insurer, and Haris Marine Products had earlier litigated Civil Appeal No. 4139 of 2020 before the Supreme Court, which the Court decided by a detailed judgment dated 25 April 2022, allowing that appeal. Dissatisfied with the outcome, a review petition was filed seeking reconsideration of that judgment. An application for an oral hearing in the review was also made.
Decision Breakdown
The Court first dismissed the application seeking an oral hearing in the review petition. It then examined the grounds raised in the review petition against the original 25 April 2022 judgment and held that none of the grounds disclosed any "error apparent on the face of the record": the narrow standard required to reopen a final Supreme Court judgment through review. Finding no such error, the Court declined to interfere with its earlier decision and dismissed the review petition in its entirety.
Lesson Learnt
A review petition is not a second appeal or a chance to re-argue a case on merits; the Supreme Court will only reopen a final judgment if there is a glaring, self-evident error on the face of the record, and mere disagreement with the reasoning is not enough.