IMPORTANT POINTS
SLP filed after long delay without justifying the same is not maintainable.
In an appeal against review order, Supreme Court will not examine legality of the main order.
Every error whether factual or legal cannot be made subject matter of review.
Finding of fact in writ petition cannot be reviewed in review jurisdiction like appellate jurisdiction.

JUDGMENT :

Abhay Manohar Sapre, J.

1. This appeal is directed against the final judgment and order dated 16.12.2008 passed by the High Court of Judicature at Allahabad in Civil Misc. Review Application No.81507 of 2008 in Civil Misc. Writ Petition No.10557 of 2002 whereby the High Court dismissed the Civil Misc. Review Application filed by the original appellant herein.

2. In order to appreciate the short controversy involved in this appeal, few facts need mention infra.

3. The appellants herein are the legal representatives of the original appellant, who was the writ petitioner and the review petitioner whereas the respondents herein were the respondents in the writ petition and the review application.

4. The original appellant was the owner of certain lands. These lands were subjected to ceiling proceedings under the Urban Land (Ceiling and Regulation) Act, 1976. The ceiling proceedings eventually resulted in declaring some lands in excess of ceiling limits as surplus. The State claims to have taken possession of the surplus land way back in the year 1982. The Ceiling Act was repealed for the State of UP on 22.03.1999.

5. In the year 2002, the original appellant filed a writ petition against the respondents-State of UP and its authorities in the Allahabad High Court claiming therein that since the original appellant continued to remain in possession of the surplus land even after the Repeal Act came into force, all the ceiling proceedings against her in relation to the lands in question stood lapsed in terms of Repeal Act.

6. This writ petition was dismissed by order dated 14.03.2008. The original appellant (writ petitioner) felt aggrieved by the dismissal of her writ petition and filed Review Application No.81507/2008 in the High Court. By impugned order dated 16.12.2008, the High Court dismissed the review application.

7. The original appellant felt aggrieved and filed the present appeal by way of special leave against the review order dated 16.12.2008 in this Court.

8. Heard Mr. Jayant Bhushan, learned senior counsel for the appellants and Dr. M.P. Raju, learned counsel for the respondents.

9. It is clear from the record that the original appellant (writ petitioner) never challenged the legality and correctness of the main order dated 14.03.2008 passed in the writ petition (10557/2002) but confined her challenge only to the order dated 16.12.2008 passed in the review application.

10. Though, learned counsel for the appellant contended that reading of the list of dates in this appeal shows that the original appellant has challenged the main order dated 14.03.2008 also along with the review order dated 16.12.2008, but we do not find it to be so.

11. In our opinion, the original appellant not having challenged the legality of the main order dated 14.03.2008 in a separate SLP or in this appeal, this Court is not called upon to examine the legality and correctness of the main order dated 14.03.2008 in the present appeal.

12. Mr. Jayant Bhushan, learned senior counsel for the appellants, however, argued that this Court should invoke the powers under Article 142 of the Constitution and permit the appellants to challenge the main order. We find no merit in this submission for three reasons.

13. First, the original appellant did not assign any reason as to what prevented her in the last almost 11 years in not filing the SLP against the main order;

14. Second, there was no legal impediment on the appellants’ right to file the SLP in this Court as soon as the main order dated 14.03.2008 was passed and lastly, when the present SLP was filed in the year 2010 against the review order, the original appellant again did not challenge the main order dated 14.03.2008.

15. In the light of these three reasons, we find no good ground to invoke extraordinary powers under Article 142 of the Constitution and permit the appellants(legal representatives of original appellant) to question the legality of main order dated 14.03.2008 in this appeal.

16. Now coming to