ABDUL HAMEED SOOMRO vs SUI SOUTHERN GAS CO. LTD.
This matter concerns an application filed under the Supreme Court Rules, 1980, seeking the correction of an inadvertent typographical error in a previous judgment of the Supreme Court dated 22-10-2001. The applicant, Abdul Hameed Soomro, contended that his name was incorrectly categorized under the heading of 'temporary employees' in the judgment, whereas he was, in fact, a 'Management Trainee'. The core legal question was whether the Court has the authority to rectify inadvertent typographical mistakes in its own judgments to reflect the accurate factual position of the parties. Upon hearing the parties and examining the record, the Court acknowledged that the applicant was indeed a Management Trainee and that his appeal had been erroneously clubbed with those of temporary employees due to a clerical error. The Court held that such inadvertent errors are subject to correction. Consequently, the Court allowed the application, ordering the deletion of the applicant's name from the 'temporary employees' category and its inclusion under the 'Management Trainees' category in the original judgment.
- Can the Supreme Court correct an inadvertent typographical mistake in its own judgment?
- Does the Court have the authority to reclassify a party's employment status in a judgment if the original classification was a clerical error?
- Order X Rule 2, Supreme Court Rules 1980
- Order XXXIII Rule 6, Supreme Court Rules 1980
ORDER
' QAZI MUHAMMAD FAROOQ, J.---This application has been filed under Order X, rule 2 read with Order XXXIII, rule 6 of the Supreme Court Rules, 1980 for correction of an inadvertent typographical mistake in the judgment dated 22-10-2001 of this Court passed in Civil Appeal No, 637 of 2001, which had arisen out of C.P. No, 512-K of 2000 filed by the applicant Abdul Hameed Soomro.
2. The mistake highlighted in the application is that in the said judgment the name of the applicant has been included in the category of temporary employees at page 43, para.16 instead of the category of Management Trainees at page 72, para.47.
3. We have heard the learned counsel for the parties and examined the record. The learned counsel for the applicant contended at the outset that it was> evident from the leave granting order that the applicant was a management trainee and not a temporary employee. He further contended that the, mistake was inadvertent and typographical and had occurred as the applicant's appeal was disposed of alongwith a large number of civil petitions and appeals of different categories of employees of the Sui Southern Gas Company Ltd. The learned counsel for the respondent conceded that the applicant was a management trainee.
4. We are convinced that the applicant is a management trainee and on account of inadvertent or typographical error his appeal was clubbed with civil petitions/appeals of temporary employees. A case for shifting his appeal from the heading 'temporary employees' to the heading 'Management Trainees' is made out.
5. Consequently, the application is allowed. The applicant's Appeal No, 637 of 2001 listed under the heading temporary employees' at page 43, para.16 of the judgment stands deleted therefrom and entered under the heading 'Management Trainees' at page 72, para.47.