Final settlement orders cannot be reopened by review-like rectification, and writ courts will not act as appellate forums over settled liability.

A final settlement order of the Settlement Commission cannot be reopened through a miscellaneous application or treated as if the Commission had an implied power of review. Only correction of an apparent mistake is available where the statute so permits, and a later request to reconsider the merits, including reliance on a circular, cannot revive a concluded settlement. The writ court will not act as an appellate forum over such final determinations or direct fresh consideration absent a clear jurisdictional error or illegality. A prior unchallenged rejection of rectification also barred indirect re-litigation. The challenge therefore failed.

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Issues: Whether the Settlement Commission could be required to reconsider its concluded settlement order by treating the request as rectification or review, and whether the High Court could interfere under Article 226 to direct fresh consideration of the assessee's claim based on a CBDT circular.

Analysis: The proceedings before the Settlement Commission are for settlement of liability and not ordinary determination of liability. In the absence of an express provision conferring power of review or rectification beyond correction of an apparent mistake, the Commission cannot reopen its own final order under the guise of a miscellaneous application. The benefit of a circular may be considered at the stage of settlement, but once the settlement order has attained finality, the Commission cannot revisit the merits merely because a different view is later pressed. The writ court likewise does not function as an appellate forum over the Commission's settled conclusions and will not direct reconsideration absent a clear jurisdictional error or illegality. Since the assessee had already pursued an earlier rectification route without challenging the rejection, the later writ petition could not be used to achieve the same result indirectly.

Conclusion: The Settlement Commission had no jurisdiction to review or reopen the settled income by way of rectification, and no writ relief could be granted to compel fresh consideration. The challenge failed.

Ratio Decidendi: A final settlement order of the Settlement Commission cannot be reopened in the absence of an express statutory power of review or rectification of non-apparent error, and writ jurisdiction will not be used to substitute appellate scrutiny over such concluded settlement.

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