NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court has emphasized that judges are fallible and that courts should not hesitate to acknowledge and correct mistakes in their rulings, even after a case has concluded.
More than a year after issuing an interim order that provided protection to Indiabulls Housing Finance and its officials—while halting proceedings related to debt recovery and money laundering—the court recognized that “certain errors crept into its order by oversight.”
The error arose because the restraint order was issued against the Enforcement Directorate (ED) without allowing the agency to be heard on its request for modification. Additionally, the order, issued by Justices Krishna Murari and Sanjay Kumar, erroneously instructed the parties to approach the high court for grievances while simultaneously granting interim protection that was set to continue during the high court proceedings.
Typically, Supreme Court protection remains until the parties appeal to the high court, which then determines the interim protection.
On Tuesday, Justices Sanjay Kumar and Aravind Kumar acknowledged these dual errors and modified the order, clarifying that interim protection in the recovery proceedings would last only until the parties approached the high court, after which it would be up to the high court to make decisions regarding interim relief.
“The stay of proceedings granted by this court regarding the first three FIRs was meant to last until the writ petitions are resolved in the high court. It would not be appropriate to bind the high court with directives related to proceedings that are to be challenged before it. Generally, we leave all issues open for the party to raise in the high court,” the bench stated.
“Being the court of last resort, we will not shy away from recognizing mistakes in our orders and will correct such errors when necessary,” the bench added, supporting the ED’s plea and retracting part of the previous order concerning the money laundering case issued on July 4 last year.
Citing the SC judgment in **V K Jain vs Delhi HC**, the bench noted, “Our legal system acknowledges the fallibility of judges. While this remark pertained to judges at the district level, it equally applies to those in higher courts. As constitutional courts, it is essential to recognize and rectify errors in judicial orders when warranted.”
Justice Krishna Murari had retired during this period.
