IMPORTANT POINTS
(1) Application for recall of an order by which an earlier application for recall of judgment was dismissed is not maintainable;
(2) Permitting parties to reopen concluded judgments of this Court by filing repeated interlocutory applications is clearly abuse of process of law and would have far-reaching adverse impact on administration of justice

ORDER :

1. By a judgment dated 27.04.2020, the Appellant herein Sh. Rashid Khan Pathan and two others, Sh. Vijay Kurle and Sh. Nilesh Ojha were held guilty of contempt for making scurrilous and scandalous allegations against the Judges of this Court. On 01.05.2020, the matter was listed for hearing the contemnors on the sentence. On that day this Court was informed that applications for recall of the judgment dated 27.04.2020 were filed. Anyhow, the matter could not be heard on 01.05.2020 due to technical reasons as connection could not be established with one of the contemnors or his counsel. After hearing the contemnors regarding the sentence on 04.05.2020, this Court found that there was no remorse or any semblance of apology shown by them. The three contemnors were sentenced to undergo a simple imprisonment for a period of three months with a fine of Rs.2,000/-. In view of the Covid-19 pandemic and the lockdown conditions, this Court directed that the sentence shall come into force after sixteen weeks from 04.05.2020. The contemnors were directed to surrender before the Secretary General of this Court to undergo the imprisonment.

2. An application filed by the contemnor No.3 - Sh. Nilesh Ojha for recusal of Justice Deepak Gupta was rejected on the same day i.e. on 04.05.2020. Interim Application Nos. 48480, 48482 and 48484 of 2020 were filed by the contemnors seeking recall of the judgment dated 27.04.2020. This Court was of the opinion that the recall applications were not maintainable and the only proper remedy available to the contemnors is to file a Review Petition. In such view of the matter, this Court dismissed the applications for recall of the judgment dated 27.04.2020 by giving liberty to the contemnors to file a Review Petition, if they so desired. The prayer made by Sh. Nilesh Ojha that he may be granted liberty to file a Writ Petition was also rejected by this Court by holding that a writ petition is not maintainable against the judgment dated 27.04.2020.

3. The Appellant herein filed an application for recall of the order dated 04.05.2020. By relying upon the judgments of this Court, the Registrar (Administration) by an order dated 07.08.2020 lodged the application as ‘it did not deserve to be received for registration’. The above appeal is preferred by Sh. Rashid Khan Pathan against the said order of the Registrar (Administration) dated 07.08.2020.

4. Sh. Paratho Sorkar, learned counsel appearing for the Appellant submitted that the judgment dated 27.04.2020 is without jurisdiction. Therefore, application for recall is maintainable. He submitted that this Court in A.R. Antulay v. R.S. Nayak, (1988) 2 SCC 602 clearly held that the formality of Review Application should not be insisted upon and this Court should correct the errors in exercise of its inherent jurisdiction, especially in matters of violation of fundamental rights. Mr. Sorkar argued that the judgment dated 27.04.2020 has been impliedly overruled by a larger bench of this Court in Suo Motu Contempt Petition (Crl.) No.1 of 2020, [In Re: Prashant Bhushan & Anr., Suo Motu Contempt Petition (Crl) No. 1 of 2020].

5. The order passed by the Registrar (Administration) lodging the application filed for recall of the order dated 04.05.2020 was mainly challenged on the ground that the judgment of this Court dated 27.04.2020 is without jurisdiction and, therefore, this Court should not insist on filing an application for review. In such circumstances, the Appellant contended that an application for recall is maintainable. Reliance was placed on a judgment of this Court in New India Assurance Co. Ltd. v. Krishna Kumar Pandey, 2019 SCC OnLine SC 1786 in support of the contention that an application for recall is maintainable when the order is passed without jurisdiction. The Respondent in the said case was convicted for an offence punishable under Section 498-A of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 (IPC) and was sentenced to rigorous imprisonment for one year. The appeal