Error apparent on the record: failure to consider material documents and judicial notice justified rectification.

Failure to consider material documents bearing on the officer's designation and appeal maintainability, including a gazette notification capable of judicial notice, was treated as an error apparent on the face of the record. Because the documents had been relied on at the hearing but were not dealt with in the operative reasoning, the omission justified rectification rather than review. The rectification application was therefore allowed so the error could be corrected and the matter reheard before a fresh order was passed.

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Issues: Whether non-consideration of the gazette notification and related documents, which bore on the officer's designation and the maintainability of the appeal, amounted to a mistake apparent from the record warranting rectification.

Analysis: The application was founded on the omission to specifically consider and discuss the documents produced to show that the adjudicating officer was the Additional Collector, including the gazette notification. The Tribunal noted that such notifications are matters of which judicial notice may be taken, and that the materials had been cited during the hearing but were not dealt with in the operative reasoning. On that basis, the omission was treated as an apparent error on the face of the record, justifying rectification rather than review.

Conclusion: The omission was held to be a mistake apparent from the record, and the rectification application was allowed.

Final Conclusion: The matter was reopened so that the error could be corrected and a fresh order passed after hearing both sides.

Ratio Decidendi: Failure to specifically notice and deal with material documents, including matters fit for judicial notice, can constitute an error apparent from the record and justify rectification.

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