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M/S Mackintosh Burn Ltd. v. M/S. Sarkar & Chowdhury Enterprises Pvt. Ltd.

Civil Appeal · Neutral citation not assigned (Civil Appeal No. 10807 of 2016)Decided 11 Nov 2016
Civil Appeal No. 10807 of 2016
Justice Kurian Joseph · Justice Rohinton Fali Nariman

Background

The appellant had earlier withdrawn a special leave petition before the Supreme Court (on 04.01.2016) with liberty to approach the High Court, on the express understanding that the Supreme Court had not considered the matter on merits. When the appellant went back to the High Court seeking what was effectively a re-hearing of the appeal, the High Court took the unreasonable stand that no review petition had been filed, and declined to entertain the request. The appellant then approached the Supreme Court again by way of the present appeal.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court granted leave and, after hearing senior counsel for both sides, held that once a party is permitted to go back to the High Court under such an order, the correct route is to file a review petition: there was no proper basis for the High Court's refusal to treat the matter as a review. The Court gave the appellant one more opportunity: the appeal was disposed of with a direction that if a proper review petition is filed within two weeks, it should not be dismissed merely on the ground of delay.

Lesson Learnt

When the Supreme Court grants "liberty to approach the High Court" after withdrawing a petition, the correct and only proper procedural route back into that court is ordinarily a review petition, treating it as an occasion for a fresh re-hearing is not permissible, and courts should not let a technical objection like delay defeat a litigant's one legitimate opportunity to be heard on review.

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

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