Order XLVII CPC: Review of Judgment - Rules 1 to 9

Rule 1 - Application for review of judgment

(1) Any person considering himself aggrieved:

1. by a decree or order from which an appeal is allowed, but from which no appeal has been preferred;
2. by a decree or order from which no appeal is allowed; or
3. by a decision on a reference from a Court of Small Causes;

and who, from the discovery of new and important matter or evidence which, after the exercise of due diligence, was not within his knowledge or could not be produced by him at the time when the decree was passed or order made, or on account of some mistake or error apparent on the face of the record, or for any other sufficient reason, desires to obtain a review of the decree passed or order made against him, may apply for review of judgment to the Court which passed the decree or made the order.

(2) A party who is not appealing from a decree or order may apply for review notwithstanding the pendency of an appeal by some other party, except where the ground of such appeal is common to the applicant and the appellant, or where, being a respondent, he can present to the Appellate Court the case on which he applies for review.

Explanation: The fact that the decision on a question of law on which the judgment of the Court is based has been reversed or modified by a subsequent decision of a superior Court in another case shall not be a ground for review of that judgment.

Rule 2 - Repealed

Rule 2, formerly titled "To whom applications for review may be made", was repealed by the Code of Civil Procedure (Amendment) Act, 1956.

Rule 3 - Form of applications for review

The provisions as to the form of preferring appeals shall apply, mutatis mutandis, to applications for review.

Rule 4 - Application where rejected or granted

(1) Where it appears to the Court that there is not sufficient ground for a review, it shall reject the application.

(2) Where the Court is of opinion that the application for review should be granted, it shall grant the same.

Provided that:

1. no such application shall be granted without previous notice to the opposite party, enabling that party to appear and be heard in support of the decree or order sought to be reviewed; and
2. no such application shall be granted on the ground of discovery of new matter or evidence alleged not to have been within the applicant's knowledge, or which could not have been adduced when the decree or order was passed or made, without strict proof of that allegation.

Rule 5 - Application for review in Court consisting of two or more Judges

Where the Judge or Judges, or any one of the Judges, who passed the decree or made the order sought to be reviewed continues or continued attached to the Court when the review application is presented, and is not or are not precluded by absence or other cause for a period of six months next after the application from considering the decree or order, such Judge or Judges, or any of them, shall hear the application, and no other Judge or Judges of the Court shall hear it.

Rule 6 - Application where rejected

(1) Where an application for review is heard by more than one Judge and the Court is equally divided, the application shall be rejected.

(2) Where there is a majority, the decision shall be according to the opinion of the majority.

Rule 7 - Order of rejection not appealable; objections to order granting application

(1) An order rejecting an application for review shall not be appealable. An order granting an application may be objected to at once by an appeal from the order granting the application or in an appeal from the decree or order finally passed or made in the suit.

(2) Where the application has been rejected because the applicant failed to appear, the applicant may apply to have the rejected application restored to the file. If sufficient cause for non-appearance is proved to the satisfaction of the Court, the Court shall restore the application on such terms as to costs or otherwise as it thinks fit and appoint a day for hearing.

(3) No order shall be made under sub-rule (2) unless notice of the application has been served on the opposite party.

Rule 8 - Registry of application granted and order for re-hearing

When an application for review is granted, a note thereof shall be made in the register, and the Court may at once re-hear the case or make such order regarding the re-hearing as it thinks fit.

Rule 9 - Bar of certain applications

No application to review an order made on an application for review, or a decree or order passed or made on a review, shall be entertained.