Subhash Chandra Sen (D) Thr. LRs and Ors. v. Nabin Sain (D) Thr. LRs.
Background
A plaintiff had won a partition decree giving him 3/5th share of a property, with the defendants getting 2/5th, based on a sketch map he had filed. Because the trial court forgot to formally mark that sketch map as an exhibit, the decree became difficult to execute, so the defendants later asked the trial court to make the map officially part of the decree. The trial court agreed, but the Calcutta High Court set that correction aside on revision, prompting the defendants' heirs to appeal to the Supreme Court.
Decision Breakdown
The Supreme Court held that the plaintiff himself had filed the sketch map and asked that partition be done according to it, so he could not later claim it was not his map. Since a partition decree cannot practically be executed without a sketch showing which portion goes to whom, the trial court was right to treat the map as part of the decree to cure its own oversight. The Court ruled that no party should suffer because of an error committed by the court itself, allowed the appeal, set aside the High Court's order, and restored the trial court's order making the map part of the decree.
Lesson Learnt
If a court's own clerical omission (like failing to formally exhibit a document) creates confusion later, the court can and should correct its own error rather than let a party lose the benefit of a decree already granted in their favour.