'What’s Recorded in Court Stays on Record': SC to Litigant Claiming Her Lawyer Spoke Without Permission

The Supreme Court recently declined to entertain a petition filed by one Savita challenging an Allahabad High Court order that granted temporary injunction on the basis of her counsel’s concession, holding that what is recorded in a court of record cannot be disputed later.

A bench of Justice Manmohan and Justice N.V. Anjaria passed the order on November 7, 2025, in an Special Leave Petition arising from a September 15, 2025 judgment of the Allahabad High Court.

The petitioner had approached the Supreme Court claiming that the concession recorded by the High Court which was made by her counsel during the hearing, was unauthorised and contrary to her instructions. On that basis, she sought to challenge the High Court’s decision to set aside the first appellate court’s order and to grant a temporary injunction in favour of the opposite party.

Her counsel, Advocate Akash Gupta, argued that the statement made before the High Court had been incorrectly recorded and did not reflect her actual stand in the case. He submitted that she had not authorised any such concession and that the High Court had acted on a misrepresentation of her position.

The Supreme Court, however, refused to entertain this contention, reaffirming the long-standing principle that records of courts of record such as High Courts are sacrosanct and cannot be contradicted by the parties or their counsel.

Referring to its earlier judgment in State of Maharashtra v. Ramdas Shrinivas Nayak & Anr. (1982) 2 SCC 463, the bench observed that the correctness of what is recorded in a court’s order cannot be disputed except by way of a proper motion before the same court.

“High Courts in India are the courts of record and what is recorded in the courts are correct and cannot be contradicted by the counsel for the parties,” the bench noted, quoting the precedent.

In view of this settled position, the Supreme Court disposed of the petition without delving into the merits of the case, but gave liberty to the petitioner to file an appropriate application before the High Court if she wished to contest the recorded concession or seek a correction of the proceedings.

Case Title: Savita Vs Satyabhan Dixit

Order Date: November 7, 2025

Bench: Justice Manmohan and Justice N.V. Anjaria