Orissa High Court
State Of Orissa vs Ainul Haque on 26 March, 1993
Equivalent citations: 1993(I)OLR487
Author: B.L. Hansaria
Bench: B.L. Hansaria
JUDGMENT B.L. Hansaria, C.J.
1. This Court, being of the view that grant of bail by the Sessions Judge, Sundargarh, to the opposite party, who was accused of an offence under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985 was not in accordance with law, took suo motu cognizance of the same by an order passed on 9-11-1992. As it was found that despite service of notice on the opposite party no appearance was made, the order of bail granted by the Sessions Judge, Sundargarh, was set aside on 10-2-1993 being satisfied about the illegality of the order. This case was thereafter filed on 16-2-1993 to recall the order of cancellation on the ground that the opposite party had entered appearance on 11-12-1992, but in the Vakalatnama, due to inadvertence, the connected case, was described as suo motu Criminal Revision" instead of suo motu Criminal Misc. Case". It is because of this that the Vakalatnama was not placed in the record of the main case and cancellation order was passed without hearing the opposite party; which should, therefore, be recalled.
2. The first point for determination is whether, on the face of what has been stated in Section 362, Cr PC. this case is at all maintainable inasmuch as that section has laid down that after a Court has signed its judgment or final order disposing of the case, it shall not alter or review the same except to correct a clerical or arithmetical error That this provision applies even to a case of the present nature is not in dispute in view of the decision in State of Orissa v. Ramachandra AIR 1979 SC 87. It is also not in dispute that the power available to this Court Under Section 482, Cr PC which has been invoked by the opp. party for recalling the order of cancellation of bail, cannot be exercised to alter or review a judgment, as the said power is not available if there be an express provision to the contrary. This was the view taken in Ramachandra (supra) which has dealt with this question in the context of Section 561-A of the old Code, which was the provision in the old code parallel to Section 432 of the new Code. This view was reitrerated in Sooraj Devi v. Pyare Lal, AIR 1981 SC 736. and Simrikhis v. Dolley Mukherjee, AIR 1990 SC 1605.
3. Shri Ray appearing for the opposite party, however submits that the prayer in this case is not to review the order but to recall the same. Learned counsel submits that despite what has been laid down in Section 362 Cr PC, recall of an order is permissible if a case for the same is made out. A Full Bench of the Rajasthan High Court in Habu v. State of Rajasthan, AIR 1967 Rajasthan 83, had occasion to discuss this aspect of the matter and on an exhaustive review of the decisions of the Supreme Court and various High Courts came to the conclusion that the power of recall is different from the power of altering or reviewing the judgment. This decision was relied on by a learned single Judge of Karnataka High Court in Girldharilal v. Pratap Rai, 1989 Cri LJ 2382 referred by Shri Ray, in which the dictionary meanings of the words "alter and review" have been gone into and it has been the stated in paragraph 20 that there was a vital and significant difference between the words -'alter', 'review' and 'recall' inasmuch as the effect of recall is complete abrogation of the judgment or final order whereas alteration or review pre-supposes continuance of the initial judgment or final order with some changes or re-examination and reconsideration of the judgment or final order, as stated in paragraph 22. Shri Ray has also referred to the judgment of a learned single Judge of Patna High Court in Krishna Prasad v. Sushila Devi, 1990 (1) Crimes 549, in which, while exercising the power of recall, the final order passed in the criminal revision was set aside on a case for the same having been made out after having taken note, inter alia, of Ramchandra's case (supra) and other decisions of the apex Court which had held that the bar imposed by Section 362 CrPC applies to revisional orders passed by the High Court.
4. A Bench of this Court had also occasion recently to examine in State of Orissa v. Janamohan Das, 75(1993) CLT 352. whether the power of recall is different from that of review, and after taking note principally of A. R. Antulay v. R. S. Naik, AIR 1988 SC 1531, it was recognised in paragraph 33 that the power of recall is distinguishable from the power of review. It was, however, stated that the power of recall has to be exercised in exceptional cases. Of course, that case dealt with the power of recall available in a writ proceeding.
5. Let us now see, whether a case for recall is made out. It is apparent that this power would be exercisable in exceptional cases and if the Court would be satisfied that the same is necessary, inter alia, to secure the ends of justice, which is one of the grounds on which the power Under Section 482. CrPC can be exercised by a High Court.
6. The opposite party had appeared in the case. But in view of certain inadvertent mistake in the description of the case, as would appear from the Vakalatnama on record, a note was put up that no appearance had been made, because of which the order of bail passed in favour of the opposite party was set aside without hearing him. If a prejudicial order is passed, and that too of the present nature, without giving any opportunity to the affected party to have his say in the matter despite his appearance, the same has to be regarded as in violation of natural justice, because of which the prejudicial order may as well be said to be void or nullity, i. e., non-existent, as held in the water-shed decision in Ridge v. Baldwin, 1964 AC 40, which has been taken note of by our apex Court in a number of decisions. Law would, therefore, require recalling of such an order, which can also be said to be necessary to secure ends of justice.
7. In the result, this petition is allowed by recalling the order passed on 10-2-1993 in suo motu Crl. Misc. Case No. 1948 of 1992, which shall be listed for hearing in chambers on 9-4-1993.