CLERICAL ERRORS IN PLEADINGS MAY BE CORRECTED UNDER MISCELLANEOUS JURISDICTION IF APPARENT FROM THE RECORD.

The applicant, a Lecturer (LB) at Government High School Nawapara Khurd, had previously filed a writ petition, W.P.(S) No. 3991 of 2026, seeking two advance increments for acquiring a Ph.D. degree

On 08.05.2026, the High Court passed an order in that petition

However, due to a typographical error in the original writ petition, the applicant's father's name was recorded as "Francis Minj" instead of the correct name, "Yacub Minj"

The applicant filed the present Miscellaneous Civil Case (MCC) seeking a correction of this clerical error in the court's order dated 08.05.2026

Whether an inadvertent typographical error regarding a party's parentage in a court order, stemming from the original pleadings, can be corrected under the court's inherent powers or clerical correction jurisdiction

The court applied the principle of actus curiae neminem gravabit (an act of the court shall prejudice no one) regarding the correction of clerical or arithmetical mistakes in judgments or orders.

The court relied on the fact that where an error is "purely clerical" and "apparent from the record," and does not "affect the merits of the case or prejudice any party," the court possesses the authority to rectify such mistakes to ensure the record reflects the truth

The Court examined the record of the original writ petition, specifically Annexure P/1, which clearly identified the applicant’s father as "Yacub Minj"

The Court observed that while the error originated in the applicant's own pleadings, it subsequently "crept into" the judicial order dated 08.05.2026

Since the error was found to be a "purely clerical" and "inadvertent typographical" mistake that did not touch upon the legal merits of the underlying dispute regarding Ph.D. increments, the Court determined that a correction was necessary for the sake of accuracy

It specifically held that wherever the name "Francis Minj" appeared as the applicant's father, it should be read and corrected as "Yacub Minj"

The Court ordered that all other contents of the original order remain unaltered and that a copy of this correction order be made part of the record of the original writ petition