CPC Not Exhaustive; Where Code Is Silent About A Procedural Aspect Court's Inherent Power U/S 151 Can Come To Its Aid: Allahabad HC

“As the Code of Civil Procedure is not exhaustive, the simple reason being that the Legislature is incapable of contemplating of all the possible circumstances which may arise in any future litigation and consequently, for providing the procedure for them. It is well established that when the Code of Civil Procedure is silent regarding a procedural aspect, the inherent power of the Court (under section 151 CPC) can come to its aid for doing real and substantial justice between the parties.”

During the course of the hearing, the Counsel for appellant-Mosque Committee argued that under Section 152 of CPC, only clerical and arithmetical mistakes in an order or error arising therein from any accidental slip or omission could be corrected by the Court on its own motion or on the application made by a party and not otherwise. It was also argued that for correcting such errors on its own motion, the Court ought to have mentioned that it was invoking its suo-moto powers for making corrections and passing a fresh order allowing the puja.

“The basic principle of Section 151 is to act ex debito justitiae,” held Justice Rohit Ranjan Agarwal to stress that the powers under Section 152 CPC could be invoked when something is done in accordance with the requirement of justice.

Reliance was placed on Jet Ply Wood (P) Ltd. Vs. Madhukar Nowlakha, where the Apex Court had held that in the absence of procedure in law, the Court could invoke its inherent powers for doing real and substantive justice between the parties.

The Court further relied on Manohar Lal Chopra Vs. Rai Bahadur Rao Raja Ji Seth Hira Lal, where the Supreme Court while dealing with the grant of temporary injunction held that “nothing in the Court shall be deemed to limit, or otherwise affect the inherent power of the Court to make orders necessary for the ends of justice.” It was held that the power under Section 151 has not been conferred upon a Court but is inherent by virtue of its duty to do justice.

“Section 152 CPC is based on two principles, namely, that the act of Court should not prejudice any party and that the Courts have the duty to see that records are true and present the correct state of affairs. An arithmetical mistake is a mistake in calculation while a clerical mistake is a mistake of writing or typing error from an accidental slip or omission or an error due to careless mistake or omission may unintentionally and unknowingly also.”

The Court held that the power of the Court under Section 152 is based on “actus curiae niminem gravabit”, meaning that an act of the Court shall not prejudice no man.

Further reliance was placed on the decision of the Bombay High Court in Delta Products (P) Ltd. Vs. Industrial Credit & Investment Corporation of India Ltd. where it was held that a broad view of Section 151 and Section 152 must be taken as procedural laws exist to do substantial justice between the parties. It was held that Section 152 not only provides an opportunity to correct an omission on the part of the Court but also enables corrections of inadvertent mistakes made by the parties in their pleadings.

The Court also relied on Ganesh Vs. Sri Ram Lalaji Mahraj Birajman Mandir where a Full Bench of the Allahabad High Court held that “power of the Court for correcting mistake are not restricted to Section 152, but can be exercised under Sections 151 and 153, where there is an accidental mistake occurring in the order of the Court.”

Accordingly, Justice Agarwal held that not deciding prayer (b) of the interim application of the Plaintiff-respondent was an accidental omission on the part of the Court which could be corrected by exercising powers under Section 151 and Section 152 of CPC.

“It has already been held that a broad view must be taken of provisions of Section 152 CPC as the procedural laws are primarily meant to do justice between the parties, thus, if any mistakes that have crept are capable of being rectified and answer the description of mistakes enumerated in Section 152 CPC. In Section 152 the Court should normally be inclined to rectify such mistakes and do justice between the parties.”

The Court dismissed the appeal filed by the Mosque Committee against the subsequent order of the District Judge, Varanasi allowing puja in the Vyas-Tehkhana.

Case Title: Committee Of Management Anjuman Intezamia Masajid Varanasi vs. Shailendra Kumar Pathak Vyas And Another 2024 LiveLaw (AB) 115 [FIRST APPEAL FROM ORDER No. - 226 of 2024]