Recall of criminal judgment is distinct from review, and inherent powers may restore hearing where justice requires.

Section 362 CrPC bars review or alteration of a final criminal judgment, but recall is treated as legally distinct because it annuls the order and restores the matter for fresh hearing. The article states that the High Court may, in appropriate cases, use inherent power under Section 482 CrPC to recall a merits judgment passed without hearing the accused or counsel, where denial of hearing has caused failure of justice and recall is necessary to secure the ends of justice and apply audi alteram partem.

---

---

Issues: (i) Whether recall of a judgment is legally distinct from review or alteration of a judgment. (ii) Whether the High Court can invoke its inherent powers under Section 482 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 to recall a criminal judgment decided on merits in the absence of the accused or his counsel.

Issue (i): Whether recall of a judgment is legally distinct from review or alteration of a judgment.

Analysis: The bar in Section 362 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 was treated as directed against alteration or review of a final judgment, not against total obliteration of an order by recall. Recall was distinguished from review on the footing that review leaves the earlier judgment in existence with changes, whereas recall annuls the order and restores the matter for fresh hearing. The Court also relied on the settled distinction between revisional or appellate finality and the limited power to correct clerical or arithmetical errors.

Conclusion: Recall is distinct from review or alteration.

Issue (ii): Whether the High Court can invoke its inherent powers under Section 482 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 to recall a criminal judgment decided on merits in the absence of the accused or his counsel.

Analysis: The Court balanced the prohibition in Section 362 with the breadth of Section 482 and the requirements of natural justice. It held that the right of hearing is fundamental and that a decision rendered without hearing an accused or his counsel may, in appropriate cases, amount to failure of justice. The inherent power may therefore be exercised where recall is necessary to secure the ends of justice, prevent abuse of process, and ensure compliance with audi alteram partem, provided the case falls within the statutory limits of Section 482.

Conclusion: The High Court can exercise Section 482 power to recall such a judgment in appropriate cases where denial of hearing has caused injustice.

Final Conclusion: The reference was answered in favour of the accused, and the Court accepted that recall of a merits judgment is permissible under inherent powers in cases of denial of hearing, subject to the statutory conditions governing Section 482.

Ratio Decidendi: The bar in Section 362 prevents review or alteration of a final criminal judgment, but it does not exclude the High Court's inherent power to recall and restore a matter for fresh hearing where the judgment was rendered without hearing the accused or his counsel and recall is necessary to secure the ends of justice.

---