LAW FOR ALL

Order XLVIII of the Supreme Court Rules, 2013.=The opinion of Syed Shah Mohammed Quadri, J. with regard to the situations in which an aggrieved litigant would be entitled to relief under the doctrine of ex debito justitiae has been set out in paragraph 51 of the report which may be reproduced herein below: “Nevertheless, we think that a petitioner is entitled to relief ex debito justitiae if he establishes (1) violation of the principles of natural justice in that he was not a party to the lis but the judgment adversely affected his interests or, if he was a party to the list, he was not served with notice of the proceedings and the matter proceeded as if he had notice, and (2) where in the proceedings a learned judge failed to disclose his connection with the subject-matter or the parties giving scope for an apprehension of bias and the judgment adversely affects the petitioner.” (para 51)=The doctrine of ex debito justitiae being circumscribed by the judgment of this Court in Rupa Ashok Hurra (supra) it is for the petitioner to exhaust the said remedy, if is he so inclined and so advised. Merely because in the comprehension of the writ petitioner the judgment of this Court is erroneous would not enable the Court to reopen the issue in departure to the established and settled norms and parameters of the extent of permissible exercise of jurisdiction as well as the procedural law governing such exercise. We, therefore, hold that the present writ petition is not maintainable and is accordingly dismissed subject to the observations as above.