M/S Kalamani Tex & Anr. v. P. Balasubramanian
Background
By an earlier judgment dated 10.02.2021 in Criminal Appeal No. 123 of 2021 (arising from SLP(Crl.) No. 1876/2018), the Supreme Court had directed its Registry to transfer Rs. 11,20,000 "along with interest accrued thereupon" to the respondent, P. Balasubramanian. An Office Report dated 23.02.2021 informed the Court that this sum was lying in a non-interest-earning account with UCO Bank at the Supreme Court Compound, meaning no interest had actually accrued.
Decision Breakdown
Since the money had been sitting in a non-interest-bearing account, the direction to pay "interest accrued thereupon" could not literally be carried out. The Court therefore modified its own earlier judgment by deleting the words relating to interest from paragraph 22, and simply directed the Registry to transfer the principal sum of Rs. 11,20,000 to the respondent within two weeks. The miscellaneous application was accordingly disposed of.
Lesson Learnt
Courts can and do issue short follow-up orders to correct or adjust the practical mechanics of implementing an earlier judgment: a modification like this is a housekeeping/implementation step, not a reversal of the underlying decision on merits.