The Supreme Court of India, as a final repository of law and legal system in the Country, is expected to ensure that a degree of certainty is maintained in the law declared by it. Respect for the precedents has been the hall mark of the Anglo-Saxon jurisprudence which India has inherited from the British. The Supreme Court has always defended the doctrine of precedent on the ground that the law must be certain and settled. In Keshava Mills v. I.T. Commissioner, AIR 1965 SC 1636, Gajendragadkar, J.. laid down a number of reasons for not overruling an earlier decision. Speaking for the bench, he added”........unless consideration of a substantial and compelling character makes it necessary to do so, this Court would be reluctant to revise its earlier decisions.” In Income Tax Officer, Tuticorin v. T.S.D. Nadar, AIR 1968 SC 623, Hegde J., observed “Every time the Court overrules its previous decision, the confidence of the public in the soundness of the decisions of t ....