Clerical error correction in tribunal orders may proceed under procedural powers, without invoking rectification limits.

A clerical or typographical error in the non-operative part of an order may be corrected without disturbing the substantive decision where the correction only substitutes the correct appeal particulars and underlying order references. Such a correction is not a rectification of the order under section 35C(2) of the Central Excise Act, 1944, because it does not seek rehearing on merits or amendment of the operative portion. The Tribunal may instead act under Rule 41 of the CESTAT Procedure Rules, 1982 to give effect to its orders and secure the ends of justice, so the limitation objection under section 35C(2) was rejected.

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Issues: Whether the Tribunal could correct an obvious clerical error in the preamble of its earlier order by substituting the correct appeal particulars and the correct underlying orders, and whether such correction was barred by the six-month limit in section 35C(2) of the Central Excise Act, 1944.

Analysis: The correction sought did not seek any amendment of the operative order or any rehearing on merits. The mistake was confined to the non-operative portion of the order, where the preamble wrongly linked both appeals to the same original order and wrong respondent particulars. Section 35C(2) applies to rectification of a mistake in the order itself, whereas the present request was only to correct an obvious recording error. The Tribunal held that such a correction falls within Rule 41 of the CESTAT Procedure Rules, 1982, which empowers the Tribunal to pass orders or directions necessary to give effect to its orders and secure the ends of justice.

Conclusion: The application was maintainable and the correction was permitted; the objection based on limitation under section 35C(2) was not accepted.

Ratio Decidendi: A correction confined to an obvious clerical or typographical error in the non-operative part of an order, without altering the substantive decision, is not a rectification of the order under section 35C(2) and may be made under the Tribunal's procedural power to secure the ends of justice.

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