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1959 Supreme(MP) 3

High Court Of Madhya Pradesh
A. H. Khan and H. R. Krishnan, JJ.
DEV KRISHNA AND ANR. - Appellant
Versus
DHANI RAM SALIGRAM - Respondents
Civil Review 15 Of 1954
Decided On : 01/05/1959

Advocates Appeared:
HARIHAR NIWAS DWIVEDI, Jagannath Prashad, SHRIVASTAVA

A review does not lie even if the decision of the Single Bench is erroneous, if that Bench is aware of what it was doing.

Headnote:

REVIEW - APPARENT MISTAKE - NOTIFICATION - JUDICIAL NOTICE - STATUTE - DURBAR ORDER - FULL BENCH RULING - EVIDENCE - LIMITATION - EXECUTION OF DECREE - CIVIL PROCEDURE CODE, 1908, SECTION 114.

Fact of the Case:

The decree-holder obtained a money decree against the non-applicant and filed an execution petition after the statutory period of limitation. He relied on a notification issued by the Durbar of the erstwhile Gwalior State as a means of saving limitation. The executing court dismissed the application as time-barred. The first appellate court remanded the case to enable the decree-holder to prove the notification. The decree-holder failed to prove it, and the case was again dismissed. On second appeal, the Single Bench held that the first appellate court had taken further evidence and not judicial notice, and that there was no justification for further evidence. The decree-holder filed an application for review, arguing that the Single Bench had committed an error apparent on the face of the record by describing the notification as a notification properly so-called.

Finding of the Court:

The court held that the mistake alleged by the decree-holder was not apparent on the face of the record. It was an error of argument, understanding, or judgment, which required argument to convince the Single Bench that its name notwithstanding, it was not a notification as understood by the Full Bench. The court also held that the Single Bench had considered the pros and cons of the case and had given a reasoned decision, which could not be reviewed.

Issues: Whether the Single Bench had committed an error apparent on the face of the record by describing the notification as a notification properly so-called.

Ratio Decidendi: A mistake is apparent on the face of the record if it is one which has only to be pointed out to be corrected immediately, without any argument. If the court has entered into a discussion of the pros and cons and has justified one of the two alternative views, then certainly the mistake, if any, is not apparent or patent.

Final Decision: The application for review was dismissed.

H. B. KRISHNAN, J.

( 1 ) IN this application for review of the judgment of the Single Judge in Civil Second appeal No. 129 of 1952, the question for decision is this: Has that Court committed a mistake apparent on the face of the record when it has described as a "notification", a particular order of the Durbar of the erstwhile Gwalior State on which the decree-holder-applicant relied as the means of saving limitation? certainly the question is not whether that notification was one properly so-called, or something more namely a statute which need not be proved, but should be judicially noticed, nor is it the question whether the Single Bench judgment is wrong in this regard.

( 2 ) THE facts arc simple. Long long ago the decree-holder obtained a money decree against the non-applicant which he put into execution well after the statutory period of limitation. When this was pointed out by the non-applicant judgmentdebtor the decree-holder argued that during this interval the Durbar had made and notified an order giving as it were a moratorium. After that order or notification spent itself he filed the application for execution, and was therefore, entitled to get the period excluded. It was, therefore a simple matter calling for the production of a copy of the said notification. The decree-holder having taken years failed to produce it, the executing court dismissed the application as time-barred. The decree-holder went up in appeal and the first appellate court remanded the execution case to enable the decree-holder to prove the notification on which he was apparently reiving. But even after the remand the decree-holder failed to prove it. The case was again dismissed and again taken up in first appeal. On this occasion in the first appellate court a copy of the notification seems to have been produced, and the court observed that it was taking judicial notice; then it restored the execution case as being in time.

( 3 ) THEREUPON the judgment-debtor came up in second appeal, and the single bench held, firstly, that the first appellate court had really taken further evidence and not judicial notice, as in fact, according to a Full Bench ruling of the Madhya bharat High Court no judicial notice could be taken of a notification. Secondly, it found that in the circumstances of the case there was altogether no justification for further evidence in the first appellate court; and thirdly, considering the case without this piece of further evidence it ordered that the execution case should be dismissed as time-barred.

( 4 ) THE decree-holder thereupon came with an application for review, though at that time there was provision for a special appeal on a certificate by the Single bench on substantially the same lines as the Letters Patent Appeal. However, he did not ask for a certificate and naturally did not file a special appeal. He held that review was justified because in describing this "notification", as a notification properly so called the Single Bench was committing an error apparent on the face of the record. The reply of the non-applicant is that this is not an error apparent on the face of the record and it is outside the scope of the review to consider whether or not the decision itself is a correct one. Case law has been cited, but it is unnecessary to summarise it because the principles applicable to a review are well settled and have been accepted by the High Courts with unanimity. A review does not lie even if the decision of the Single Bench is erroneous, if that Bench is aware of what it was doing. A court has jurisdiction to decide wrongly. Secondly, if a point is arguable and has not been argued by the parties and the court has taken a view in agreement with the actual wording, no review lies simply because the actual wording may not be quite correct or the appearances have to be qualified by explanation or some other evidence. Thirdly, a mistake to be apparent, should be one which has only to be pointed out to be corre








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