Sanjay Kumar Agarwal Vs State Tax Officer (1) & Anr. (Supreme Court of India)
Summary: The Supreme Court dismissed a batch of five review petitions seeking review of its judgment dated 06.09.2022 in State Tax Officer Vs Rainbow Papers Limited. Applying the First Case/First Citation rule, the principal matter is Sanjay Kumar Agarwal Vs State Tax Officer (1) & Anr., Review Petition (Civil) No.1620 of 2023 in Civil Appeal No.1661 of 2020. The review petitions challenged the Court’s earlier conclusion concerning the interaction between Section 48 of the Gujarat Value Added Tax Act, 2003 and the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016, including the status of the State as a secured creditor and the treatment of statutory dues. :chatgpt-content-reference{index=”0″}
The Court first examined the scope of its review jurisdiction under Article 137 of the Constitution, the Supreme Court Rules, 2013 and Order XLVII Rule 1 CPC. It held that review is available where, inter alia, there is a mistake or error apparent on the face of the record, but it cannot be used to secure a rehearing or a fresh decision. An error requiring a process of reasoning is not an error apparent on the face of the record. A review petition has a limited purpose and cannot operate as an “appeal in disguise”. The Court also clarified that review is not confined only to parties to the original judgment: a third party who is genuinely an “aggrieved person” may seek review.
