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TMI Blog2006 (8) TMI 611X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... esting and Assignment) Act, 1971 (for short "the Act") came into force. In the year 1979, the appellant filed an application, O.A. No.247 of 1979, before the Forest Tribunal, Manjeri, under Section 8 of the Act seeking a declaration that the application scheduled property was not a private forest liable to be vested in the Government. He scheduled 8.10 hectares equivalent to 20 acres in Sy. No. 2157, Agali Village, Mannarghat Taluk in the application. He claimed exemption under Section 3(2) of the Act and in the alternative, claimed that even if the land was private forest, the same was held by him as owner under his personal cultivation and with intent to cultivate and that it is within the ceiling limit applicable to him under the Kerala Land Reforms Act and hence the same may be declared to be exempt from vesting under Section 3(3) of the Act. Through the forest authorities, the State of Kerala filed objections to the original application. It was contended that the land was private forest; that the Madras Preservation of Private Forests Act applied to the same; and it continued to be a forest under the Act and hence the prayer under Section 3(2) of the Act was unsustainable. The ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... vailability of power, the State filed R.P. No.219 of 1987 on 14.3.1987, before the Forest Tribunal seeking a review of the decision of the Forest Tribunal dated 17.12.1980. It is seen that a commission was taken out in these proceedings presumably on the dispute whether the property scheduled was under cultivation or was part of a dense forest. On 14.3.1988, the Forest Tribunal dismissed the review petition on the ground that its order sought to be reviewed, had merged with the judgment of the High Court in MFA No.328 of 1981, which, as we have already noticed, was dismissed at the admission stage. Whether the view of the Forest Tribunal that it could not review the order in exercise of power under Section 8B of the Act, notwithstanding the dismissal of the appeal from its decision at the stage of admission, need not be considered at this stage. The fact remains that the Forest Tribunal dismissed the review petition. 5. On 30.3.1989 the appellant approached the High Court with O.P. No.2926 of 1989 invoking Article 226 of the Constitution of India praying for a writ of mandamus directing the State and the Forest Officials to restore to him the 20 acres of land in implementation of ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... of non-restoration of the land. In the face of the contempt of court proceedings initiated and entertained by the High Court, the State and the forest authorities purported to handover as per a mahazar and plan, 20 acres of land to the appellant and produced the mahazar and the plan before the High Court. Taking note of this, the High Court by order dated 24.10.1997, closed the contempt of court proceedings recording that the mandamus earlier issued by the High Court had been obeyed. 8. The attempt to handover 20 acres of fragile forest to the appellant, generated considerable public opinion and protest that it ultimately forced the State and the forest authorities, to approach the High Court again with a petition for review. On 2.11.2000, a petition for review was filed as CMP No.456 of 1991 in RP No.17 of 1991 in MFA No.328 of 1981 to review the order of the Division Bench dated 18.11.1983, whereby the High Court refused to condone the delay in filing the review petition against the order in MFA No.328 of 1981. Another review petition was filed to review the order in OP No.2926 of 1989 issuing the writ of mandamus directing restoration. Yet another review petition was filed to r ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ng a fraud on the Tribunal was not justified and no occasion arose for the High Court to exercise its jurisdiction under Article 215 of the Constitution of India, assuming it had such a jurisdiction to interfere with the earlier orders. On behalf of the State it is contended by learned senior counsel that fraud vitiates everything, that if an order is vitiated by fraud, it does not attain finality and it can be set at naught by a proper proceeding and on the facts and in the circumstances of the case, the High Court was fully justified in setting aside the order of the Forest Tribunal. It is submitted that the High Court has only followed the ratio of the decisions of this Court and there is nothing illegal in the decision rendered by the High Court. On facts, fraud was writ large and this was a case where the High Court ought to have interfered and the interference made was fully justified. Counsel further submitted that since the appellant had come with unclean hands and had obtained a relief by playing a fraud on the court, this was a fit case where this Court should decline to exercise its discretionary jurisdiction under Article 136 of the Constitution of India, sought to be i ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... f equity in granting such relief is inherent, and frequent applications for equitable relief against judgments on this ground were made in equity before the practice of awarding new trials was introduced into the courts of common law. Where fraud is involved, it has been held, in some cases, that a remedy at law by appeal, error, or certiorari does not preclude relief in equity from the judgment. Nor, it has been said, is there any reason why a judgment obtained by fraud cannot be the subject of a direct attack by an action in equity even though the judgment has been satisfied." 13. The law in India is not different. Section 44 of the Evidence Act enables a party otherwise bound by a previous adjudication to show that it was not final or binding because it is vitiated by fraud. The provision therefore gives jurisdiction and authority to a Court to consider and decide the question whether a prior adjudication is vitiated by fraud. In Paranjpe Vs. Kanade [ILR 6 BOMBAY 148], it was held that it is always competent to any Court to vacate any judgment or order, if it be proved that such judgment or order was obtained by manifest fraud. In Lakshmi Charan Saha Vs. Nur Ali [ ILR 38 Calc ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... a judgment/decree --- by the first court or by the highest court --- has to be treated as a nullity by every court, whether superior or inferior. It can be challenged in any court even in collateral proceedings." The Court went on to observe that the High Court in that case was totally in error when it stated that there was no legal duty cast upon the plaintiff to come to Court with a true case and prove it by true evidence. Their Lordships stated, " The courts of law are meant for imparting justice between the parties. One who comes to the court, must come with clean hands. We are constrained to say that more often than not, process of the Court is being abused. Property grabbers, tax evaders, Bank loan dodgers, and other unscrupulous persons from all walks of life find the court- process a convenient lever to retain the illegal-gains indefinitely. We have no hesitation to say that a person, whose case is based on falsehood, has no right to approach the Court. He can be summarily thrown out at any stage of the litigation". In Ram Preeti Yadav Vs. U.P. Board of High School and Intermediate Education & Others [(2003) Supp. 3 SCR 352], this Court after quoting the relevant passag ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... his brother under a deed dated 30.1.1969. In addition, according to the State, he had sold, out of the extent of 55.25 acres, an extent of 49.93 acres by various sale deeds during the years 1971 and 1972. Though, the details of the sale deeds like the numbers of the registered documents, the dates of sale, the names of the transferees, the extents involved and the considerations received were set out by the State in its application for review before the High Court, except for a general denial, the appellant could not and did not specifically deny the transactions. Same is the case in this Court, where in the counter affidavit, the details of these transactions have been set out by the State and in the rejoinder filed by the appellant, there is no specific denial of these transaction or of the extents involved in those transactions. Therefore, it stands established without an iota of doubt as found by the High Court, that the appellant suppressed the fact that he had parted with almost the entire property purchased by him under the registered document through which he claimed title to the petition schedule property before the Forest Tribunal. In other words, when he claimed that he ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... vitiated by fraud. The fact that the High Court on the earlier occasion declined to interfere either on the ground of delay in approaching it or on the ground that a Second Review was not maintainable, cannot deter a Court moved in that behalf from declaring the earlier order as vitiated by fraud. 18. The High Court, as a court of record, has exercised its jurisdiction to set at naught the order of the Forest Tribunal thus procured by the appellant by finding that the same is vitiated by fraud. There cannot be any doubt that the court in exercise of its jurisdiction under Article 215 of the Constitution of India has the power to undo a decision that has been obtained by playing a fraud on the court. The appellant has invoked our jurisdiction under Article 136 of the Constitution of India. When we find in agreement with the High Court that the order secured by him is vitiated by fraud, it is obvious that this Court should decline to come to his aid by refusing the exercise of its discretionary jurisdiction under Article 136 of the Constitution of India. We do not think that it is necessary to refer to any authority in support of this position except to notice the decision in Ashok ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... tion under Article 136 of the Constitution of India at the behest of the appellant. 20. In the view that we have taken as above, the plea that the second review was not maintainable, that the Division Bench could not have ignored the earlier orders of the High Court dismissing the appeal at the stage of admission and the dismissing of the petition for condonation of delay in filing the first review, are all of no avail to the appellant. In this case, the Forest Tribunal had also been moved by way of review and that tribunal refused to exercise its jurisdiction under Section 8B of the Act and nothing stands in the way of the High Court setting aside that order on a finding that the original order from the Forest Tribunal was secured by playing a fraud on the Tribunal. Equally, nothing stood in the way of the High Court reviewing the judgment in O.P. No. 2926 of 1989 in which a mandamus was issued by the High Court to restore possession of the application schedule property to the appellant. Similarly, nothing stood in the way of the High Court in allowing O.P. No. 20946 OF 1997 filed by a body of citizens challenging the restoration of 20 acres of virgin forest to the appellant in p ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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