Supreme Court strikes down Rajasthan HC order, bars court from recalling their own judgement

The apex court observed that once the writ petition filed by the complainant had been dismissed, a subsequent petition seeking the same could not have been entertained.

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Wednesday held that a criminal court has no power to review or recall its own judgment, as it set aside the Rajasthan High Court’s order transferring investigation in FIRs against former Revenue Minister Ramlal Jat and others to the CBI.

A bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta quashed the High Court’s February 4, 2025 order, which had transferred the probe to the central agency, while allowing the complainant, Parmeshwar Ramlal Joshi, and others to explore appropriate legal remedies against the High Court’s previous orders of October 23, 2024 and January 16, 2025.

The FIRs had been lodged by the Bhilwara police on a miner’s complaint alleging cheating and other offences. The High Court had earlier declined to order a CBI investigation, granting the complainant liberty only to approach the Superintendent of Police for a fair and impartial probe.

However, on February 4, 2025, the High Court recalled its previous order, claiming a “clerical error” had occurred, and transferred the investigation to the CBI.

“Ex facie, the reasons assigned by the High Court in the order for recalling the order of January 16, 2025, are erroneous on the face of the record. There was neither any clerical mistake nor any inadvertent error,” the bench said.

The apex court observed that once the writ petition filed by the complainant had been dismissed, a subsequent petition seeking the same relief—though styled under Section 528 BNSS (earlier Section 482 CrPC)—could not have been entertained.

The complainant had alleged that the investigation was being influenced by accused Ramlal Jat, then a minister, and that senior police officials, including the DGP and IGP, were attempting to scuttle the prosecution. His counsel argued that dismissal of the earlier writ petition would not prevent him from approaching the High Court afresh.

Rejecting the reasoning adopted by the High Court, the bench said, “There was no apparent or manifest error, let alone a clerical one, in the said order which could justify its recalling or modification.”

It reiterated that the law is well settled that a criminal court has no power to recall or review its own judgment.

“The only permissible action is to correct or rectify clerical errors under Section 403 BNSS (Section 362 CrPC),” the court said, adding that a perusal of the January 16, 2025 order made it clear that no such error existed to justify the High Court’s intervention.