Sounding the gavel on curative jurisdiction
- The Supreme Court for the first time ever in a curative petition, set aside an arbitral award.
Highlights:
- Recent case involving Delhi Metro Rail Corporation and Delhi Airport Metro Express Pvt Ltd.
- Dispute centered on contract termination due to safety concerns and subsequent arbitration.
- The Court's deviation from its stance of minimal interference in arbitration.
What is Curative jurisdiction?
- The Supreme Court introduced Curative Jurisdiction in 2002.
- It is a power to correct its judgments, after they have become final.
- This is distinct from the power of review under Indian law, which enables all courts to rectify errors which are apparent from their records.
- Curative Jurisdiction is not just the Court changing its view on a position of law but is a reversal of the Court’s own view in a specific case, above and beyond even the power of review.
- Curative petitions are typically heard by a bench comprising the three senior-most judges of the Supreme Court and are considered only in exceptional cases where the petitioner can establish that there has been a gross miscarriage of justice.
- This power is aimed at upholding the integrity of the judicial process and ensuring that justice is served even in cases where there has been an oversight or error in the original judgement.
Problems with curative jurisdiction:
- Curative Jurisdiction is effectively the Supreme Court seeking to correct its mistakes.
- While there is merit in correcting one’s mistakes, an institution which underpins the country’s judiciary and which is the final interpreter of the Constitution must look beyond errors in individual cases.
- The Supreme Court is the beacon of law; we expect it to be a pole star. The exercise of revisiting one’s own decisions is good in an individual, but is not good for an institution that declares the law.
- The Supreme Court which swings back and forth based on changing trends lacks the constancy and gravitas which we believe to be fundamental to a court of last resort.