JUDGMENT

Anil Kshetarpal, J. - In A.V.Papayya Sastry vs. Govt of A.P. (AIR 2007 SC 1546), the Apex Court observed that the fraud may be defined as an act of deliberate deception with the design of securing some unfair or undeserved benefit by taking undue advantage of another. Even most solemn proceedings stand vitiated if they are actuated by fraud. Fraud is thus an extrinsic collateral act which vitiates all judicial acts, whether in rem or in personam. The principle of 'finality of litigation' cannot be stretched to the extent of an absurdity that it can be utilized as an engine of oppression by dishonest and fraudulent litigants. A judgment, decree or order obtained by playing fraud is a nullity and non est in the eye of law. It can be challenged in any court at any time, in appeal, revision, writ or even in collateral proceedings. The relevant paragraphs 20, 22, and 23 are extracted as under:-

'20. Now, it is well settled principle of law that if any judgment or order is obtained by fraud, it cannot be said to be a judgment or order in law. Before three centuries, Chief Justice Edward Coke proclaimed;

"Fraud avoids all judicial acts, ecclesiastical or temporal".

It is thus settled