Inherent powers under Section 151 CPC may restore proceedings when prior steps were taken on mistaken legal advice.

Section 151 CPC could be invoked to set aside dismissal of a misc. case where the earlier withdrawal and related steps were taken on mistaken legal advice. The Calcutta HC held that substituting one preliminary decree for another while the original decree still subsisted was misconceived, and that the matter was not confined to Order 47 Rule 1 because no express statutory bar prevented use of inherent powers to do justice and undo a wrong. The application was allowed, the dismissal order was set aside, and the misc. case was directed to proceed in accordance with law.

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Issues: Whether the inherent power of the Court under Section 151 of the Code of Civil Procedure could be invoked to set aside the order dismissing the misc. case and restore the proceedings when the earlier steps were taken under wrong legal advice.

Analysis: The petitioner's earlier applications and withdrawal of the misc. case were found to have been taken on mistaken legal advice. The Court held that the attempt to substitute one preliminary decree for another while the original decree continued to subsist was misconceived and that the petitioner had been badly let down by her former advocate. It further held that the case was not one where the matter could appropriately be confined to Order 47, Rule 1, but one where the Court's inherent powers could be exercised to do justice and undo a wrong, there being no express statutory bar.

Conclusion: The application under Section 151 of the Code of Civil Procedure was allowed, the order dismissing Misc. Case No. 15 of 1979 was set aside, and the misc. case was directed to proceed in accordance with law.

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