TMI Blog2000 (3) TMI 1077X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... look into the matter and hence the Insurance Company has filed these appeals by Special leave. Fraud and justice never dwell together.(Frans et jus nunquam cohabitant) is a pristine maxim which has never lost its temper over all these centuries. Lord Denning observed in a language without equivocation that no judgment of a Court, no order of a Minister can be allowed to stand if it has been obtained by fraud, for, fraud unravels everything( (Lazarus Estate Ltd. Vs. Beasley 1956(1) QB 702.) For a High Court in India to say that it has no power even to consider the contention that the awards secured are the byproducts of stark fraud played on a Tribunal, the plenary power conferred on the High Court by the Constitution may become a mirage ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... Company resisted the claims on the premise that there was no negligence on the part of the driver of the Car, the Tribunal found the driver guilty of negligent driving. Hence, the owner was held vicariously liable for the damages payable to the injured claimants.Accordingly, two awards were passed on 15.1.1998, one in favour of Rajendra Singh in a sum of ₹ 3,55,000/- and the other in favour of Sanjay Singh in a sum of ₹ 1,52,000/-. Both the awards were to carry interest at the rate of 12% per annum from the date of claim. An interim order was passed already for covering no fault liability and we are told that the amount towards that had been paid by the appellant Company. The awards became final as neither the owner of the a ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... 153 of the Code of Civil Procedure in which the appellant prayed for recall of the awards dated 15.1.1998 on the revelation of new facts regarding the injuries sustained by the claimants. Those applications were resisted by the claimants solely on the ground that the Tribunal has no power of review except to correct any error in calculating the amount of compensation and hence the Tribunal cannot recall the awards. It appears that the Tribunal accepted the said stand of the claimants and dismissed the application for recalling the awards. It was in the above background that the appellant Insurance Company moved the High Court of Allahabad with a Writ petition for quashing the awards as well as the steps taken pursuant thereto. Learned S ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... r up to this court because they are dealing with public money. If they have discovered that such public fund, in a whopping measure, would be knocked off fraudulently through a fake claim, there is full justification for the Insurance Company in approaching the Tribunal itself first. At any rate the High Court ought not have refused to consider their grievances. What is the legal remedy when a party to a judgment or order of court later discovered that it was obtained by fraud? In S.P. Chengalvaraya Naidu (dead) by L.Rs. Vs. Jagnnath (dead) by Lrs. ors. {1994 (1) SCC 1} the two Judges Bench of this Court held: Fraud avoids all judicial acts, ecclesiastical or temporal- observed Chief Justice Edward Coke of England about three centur ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... statutory appeal against the award. Not only because of bar of limitation to file the appeal but the consideration of the appeal even if the delay could be condoned, would be limited to the issues formulated from the pleadings made till then. Therefore, we have no doubt that the remedy to move for recalling the order on the basis of the newly discovered facts amounting to fraud of high degree, cannot be foreclosed in such a situation. No court or tribunal can be regarded as powerless to recall its own order if it is convinced that the order was wangled through fraud or misrepresentation of such a dimension as would affect the very basis of the claim. The allegation made by the appellant Insurance Company, that claimants were not invo ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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