Rectification cannot be used to exercise unferred review power or enhance penalty beyond the scope of the original proceeding.

A statutory authority cannot use rectification proceedings to reopen a concluded appellate order or enhance a penalty unless that power is expressly conferred by the statute. Where no appeal had been filed against the penalty component and no valid review power existed, treating rectification as a substitute for review amounted to an impermissible exercise of unferred jurisdiction. The Madhya Pradesh High Court held that the Board of Revenue had no authority to restore the enhanced penalty in such proceedings, and the impugned order was illegal and unsustainable; the writ petition succeeded and the order was set aside with consequential relief.

---

---

Issues: Whether the Board of Revenue could, in purported rectification proceedings, revive and enhance a penalty order when no appeal had been preferred against that part of the original order and no review power existed.

Analysis: The controversy concerned only the legality of the Board's later order, by which it treated rectification as a means to reopen an earlier appellate order and restore the enhanced penalty. The governing principle applied was that a tribunal cannot exercise a power of review or enhancement unless such power is expressly conferred by the statute. Since the original appeal did not cover the penalty under the relevant provision, and since no lawful review application had been made, the subsequent interference amounted to an impermissible reopening of a concluded matter.

Conclusion: The Board had no jurisdiction to enhance the penalty in rectification proceedings, and the impugned order was illegal and unsustainable.

Final Conclusion: The writ petition succeeded, and the challenged order was set aside, with consequential relief in favour of the petitioner.

Ratio Decidendi: A statutory authority cannot, under the guise of rectification, exercise an unferred power of review or enhance a penalty beyond the scope of the appeal or proceeding before it.

---