TMI Blog1999 (5) TMI 596X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ent schedule was issued pursuant to the order of settlement and rent was realised from the respondent no.1 from the date of settlement. There was no appeal preferred against the order dated 2.4.1966 and thus the order of settlement achieved a finality. On 24.7.74 the appellants, 12 in number, who are residents of village Panibhandar, District Puri filed an application seeking review of the order of settlement dated 2.4.66. The only ground for review raised in the application was that the public notice of the claim preferred by the respondent no.1 was not served in the locality as prescribed. The O.E.A. Collector purported to exercise the power of review under Section 151 CPC having formed an opinion that the proclamation was not proper ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... the O.E.A. Collector which was one passed within the jurisdiction of the O.E.A. Collector being set aside, more so when the averments made in the application seeking review/recall did not go beyond alleging an irregularity merely or at the worst an illegality. The aggrieved appellants, the 12 villagers who had sought for review/recall, have filed this appeal by special leave impugning the order of the High Court. Having heard the learned counsel for the parties we are of the opinion that no fault can be found with the order of the High Court and the appeal therefore deserves to be dismissed. The only provision for review in the Act is to be found in Section 38A whereunder a review may be sought for within one year from the date of the d ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... rpus Juris Secundum (Vol. XIX) under the Chapter Judgment- Opening and Vacating (paras.265 to 284 at pages 487-510) the law on the subject has been stated. The grounds on which the courts may open or vacate their judgments are generally matters which render the judgment void or which are specified in statutes authorising such actions. Invalidity of the judgment of such nature as to render it void is a valid ground for vacating it at least if the invalidity is apparent on the face of the record. Fraud or collusion in obtaining a judgment is a sufficient ground for opening or vacating it. A judgment secured in violation of an agreement not to enter judgment may be vacated on that ground. However, in general, a judgment will not be opened ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... nd the orders passed therein a nullity. A mere error in exercise of jurisdiction does not vitiate the legality and validity of the proceedings and the order passed thereon unless set aside in the manner known to law by laying a challenge subject to the law of limitation. In Hira Lal Patni Vs. Sri Kali Nath AIR 1962 SC 199, it was held :- .......The validity of a decree can be challenged in execution proceedings only on the ground that the court which passed the decree was lacking in inherent jurisdiction in the sense that it could not have seisin of the case because the subject matter was wholly foreign to its jurisdiction or that the defendant was dead at the time the suit had been instituted or decree passed, or some such other ground ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... gs but certainly not a fact striking at the very jurisdiction of the authority passing the order. The Appellate Authority, i.e., the ADM has in his order noted two other contentions raised by the appellants, viz., (i) the application for settlement by the respondent no.1 was not filed within the prescribed time, and (2) the application should have been treated as an application for lease and should not have been treated as a claim case. None of the two pleas was raised by the appellants in their pleadings. None of the two was urged before O.E.A. Collector. Therefore there was no occasion to consider those pleas. Still we may make it clear that none of the two pleas could have been a ground for recalling the order which was otherwise within ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... it made an error in deciding a vital issue in the suit, it cannot be said that it had acted beyond its jurisdiction. As has often been said, courts have jurisdiction to decide right or to decide wrong and even though they decide wrong, the decrees rendered by them cannot be treated as nullities.... So also whether an application by way of claim petition or an application for grant by way of lease, both were entertainable by the O.E.A. Collector and it was for him to decide which way he chose to deal with the application. In any case, he had the jurisdiction to deal with the application. No case was made out before the O.E.A. Collector and the ADM for recalling the order of settlement dated 2.4.1966. The order did not suffer from lack o ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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