“Completely Misconceived”: Supreme Court Rejects Plea To Confer Article 142 Powers On High Courts

The Supreme Court on Tuesday (April 22) dismissed a plea seeking that High Courts be granted powers similar to those of the Supreme Court under Article 142 of the Constitution to pass any order necessary to do complete justice.A bench of Justice Abhay S. Oka and Justice Ujjal Bhuyan held that the prayer made in the petition was misconceived and the power under Article 142 is conferred only on the Supreme Court, not the High Courts.“Prayer made in this petition is completely misconceived. Power conferred under Article 142 of the Constitution is only on this Court and not the High Courts”, the Court stated.During the hearing, Justice Oka told the petitioner Pankaj K Phadnis, who appeared in person, “Your prayer is that we should confer on High Court the power of this court under Article 142. Can that be done unless Constitution is amended? We can strike down portion of the Constitution but we can't amend the Constitution. This prayer is not capable of being granted.”The petitioner submitted that a Constitution Bench could decide the issue. Justice Oka responded that a Constitution bench cannot amend the Constitution. When the petitioner asked, “Where do I go?”, Justice Oka replied, “You go to the parliament. We can't amend the Constitution.” The petitioner also argued that an alternative could be to interpret Article 226 as akin to Article 142, but Justice Oka rejected this argument. The bench declined the petitioner's request for appointment of an amicus curiae.The Court also rejected the petitioner's plea to direct the High Court to consider a writ petition filed by him in accordance with Article 142 of the Constitution.The Court stated that the High Court cannot be allowed to exercise the power of the Supreme Court under Article 142 while deciding a petition filed under Article 226 of the Constitution. “Therefore we cannot allow High Court to exercise power of this Court under Article 142 while deciding the petition filed by the petitioner under Article 226 of the Constitution of India. There is absolutely no merit in the prayer made by the petitioner. Therefore, there is no question of appointing amicus curiae or referring the case to the Constitution bench”, the Court held and dismissed the plea.Case no. – Abhinav Bharat Congress v. Union of India and Ors.Case Title – W.P.(C) No. 395/2025 Click Here To Read/Download Order

“Completely Misconceived”: Supreme Court Rejects Plea To Confer Article 142 Powers On High Courts

Amisha Shrivastava

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