Smt. Gulaba Devi and Another Vs the State of U.P. Thru. Special Secy. Institutional Finance Govt. of U.P. and Others — Allahabad HC (2025) — LawSathi Research

Smt. Gulaba Devi and Another Vs the State of U.P. Thru. Special Secy. Institutional Finance Govt. of U.P. and Others — Allahabad HC (2025) — LawSathi Research

What the court decided

AI extract

Outcome

Review application partly allowed; the judgment and order dated 08.01.2024 corrected/modified to provide that the Rs.5,00,000/- awarded by the Permanent Lok Adalat carries 9% interest plus Rs.5,000/- towards legal expenses as per the award dated 17.06.2023; the award dated 17.06.2023 modified only to the extent that the penalty stands set aside; certified copies to be provided on payment of usual charges.

Issue for consideration

Whether the judgment and order dated 08.01.2024 suffers from an error apparent on the face of the record inasmuch as, while setting aside the penalty, it failed to clarify that the sum of Rs.5,00,000/- awarded by the Permanent Lok Adalat was to carry 9% interest and Rs.5,000/- towards legal expenses as provided in the award dated 17.06.2023.

Court's answer

The submission of the review applicants is correct; the order dated 08.01.2024 suffers from an error apparent on the face of the record because the Court intervened only on the issue of imposition of penalty and ought to have clarified the aspect of interest and legal expenses, which it apparently did not do.

Ratio / Principle

The judgment and order dated 08.01.2024 stands corrected/reviewed: the sum of Rs.5,00,000/- awarded by the Permanent Lok Adalat to the applicants shall carry 9% interest as well as Rs.5,000/- towards legal expenses as provided in the award dated 17.06.2023; the award dated 17.06.2023 stands modified only to the extent that the penalty imposed has been set aside by this Court.

Key takeaways

The order dated 08.01.2024 stands modified to the aforesaid extent, and the order passed today shall be read alongwith the principal order dated 08.01.2024.ratio¶12

Detailed headnote1 paragraphs

Review Application (Allahabad High Court, Lucknow Bench, Jaspreet Singh, J.) — Review against this Court's judgment and order dated 08.01.2024, whereby the writ petition was partly allowed and only the penalty imposed on respondent no.3 (National Insurance Company Limited) by the Permanent Lok Adalat in its award dated 17.06.2023 was set aside. Held: the earlier order suffered from an error apparent on the face of the record in failing to clarify that the awarded sum of Rs.5,00,000/- was to carry 9% interest along with Rs.5,000/- towards legal expenses as provided in the award dated 17.06.2023. Judgment and order dated 08.01.2024 corrected/modified accordingly; award dated 17.06.2023 modified only to the extent that the penalty stands set aside; the instant order to be read alongwith the principal order. Review application partly allowed.

Neutral Citation No. - 2025:AHC-LKO:23962

Court No. - 8

Case :- CIVIL MISC REVIEW APPLICATION No. - 9 of 2024

Applicant :- Smt. Gulaba Devi And Another Opposite Party :- The State Of U.P. Thru. Special Secy. Institutional Finance Govt. Of U.P. And Others Counsel for Applicant :- Rinku Verma Counsel for Opposite Party :- Mrs. Pooja Arora

Hon'ble Jaspreet Singh,J.

Heard Shri Rinku Verma, learned counsel for the review applicants and Mrs. Pooja Arora, learned counsel for the National Insurance Company Limited/ respondent no.3.

The instant review application has been moved with the limited prayer that while this Court partly allowed the writ petition vide its judgment and order dated 08.01.2024, it had merely set aside the penalty which was imposed by the Permanent Lok Adalat in its award dated 17.06.2023. It is urged that insofar as payment of the insured amount of Rs.5,00,000/is concerned it was to be paid alongwith 9% interest and legal expenses. This part of the award was not touched by the Court but the same has not been granted by the respondent no.3, though the initial amount of Rs.5,00,000/- has been paid. It is in the aforesaid circumstances that the review has been filed indicating an error apparent on the face of the record.

Learned counsel for the National Insurance Company Limited/ respondent no.3 has tried to defend the order, however, she could not dispute the aforesaid fact that this Court had very clearly indicated, in the fourth page of the order dated 08.01.2024, that the ground for entertaining and allowing the writ petition in part was only on account of imposition of penalty by the Permanent Lok Adalat on the respondent no.3

which was not justified. There is no consideration and nondeliberation on the issue regarding payment of the rate of interest or the legal expenses.

Since, this Court had clearly intervened only on the issue of imposition of penalty, hence, this Court finds that the submission made by the learned counsel for the review applicants appears to be correct. The order dated 08.01.2024 suffers from an error apparent on the face of the record inasmuch as this Court ought to have clarified this aspect which apparently has not been done. Accordingly, the review application has some merit.

The judgment and order dated 08.01.2024 shall stand corrected/ reviewed and it is clearly provided that the sum of Rs.5,00,000/- which was awarded by the Permanent Lok Adalat to the applicants shall carry 9% interest as well as sum of Rs.5,000/- towards legal expenses as provided in the said award dated 17.06.2023. The award dated 17.06.2023 shall stand modified only to above extent that the penalty which was imposed has been set aside by this Court.

With the aforesaid observation, the order dated 08.01.2024 shall stand modified to the aforesaid extent. This order passed today shall be read alongwith the principal order dated 08.01.2024.

Learned counsel for the parties shall be provided with the certified copies on the payment of usual charges.

In view of aforesaid, the present review application stands partly allowed .

Order Date :- 25.4.2025 Mohd. Sharif

Digitally signed by :- MOHAMMAD SHARIF High Court of Judicature at Allahabad, Lucknow Bench