RES SUB JUDICE: STAY OF SUIT: SECTION 10

CODE OF CIVIL PROCEDURE, 1908

TANMOY MUKHERJI INSTITUTE OF JURIDICAL SCIENCE

Dr. Tanmoy Mukherji

[Advocate]

RES SUB JUDICE: STAY OF SUIT: SECTION 10

Tanmoy Mukherji

[Advocate]

Section 10 of the CODE OF CIVIL PROCEDURE, 1908 reads thus-

“No court shall proceed with the trial of any suit in which the matter in issue is also directly and substantially in issue in a previously instituted suit between the same parties, or between parties under whom they or any of them claim litigating under the same title where such suit is pending in the same or any other court in India having jurisdiction to grant the relief claimed, or in any court beyond the limits of India established or constituted by the Central Government and having like jurisdiction, or before the Supreme Court.

Explanation— The pendency of a suit in foreign court does not preclude the courts in India from trying a suit founded on the same cause of action.”

Illustration-

A sues B for ownership of a property in Court 1, and before the court makes a decision, A files a similar lawsuit against B over the same property in Court 2, the second lawsuit would be stayed. This happens because both lawsuits have the same parties, the same subject matter, and the same cause of action, making the second suit an unnecessary duplication.

Conditions-

For the application of this section, the following conditions must be satisfied-

1.There must be two suits, one previously instituted and the other subsequently instituted.

2. The matter in issue in the subsequent suit must be directly and substantially in issue in the previous suit.

3.Both the suits must be between the same parties or their representatives.

4.The previously instituted suit must be pending in the same court in which the subsequent suit is brought or in any other court in India or in any court beyond the limits of India established or continued by the Central Government or before the Supreme Court.

5.The court in which the previous suit is instituted must have jurisdiction to grant the relief claimed in the subsequent suit.

6.Such parties must be litigating under the same title in both the suits.

Object-

The object of the rule contained in Section 10 is -

1.To prevent courts of concurrent jurisdiction from simultaneously entertaining, and adjudicating upon two parallel litigations in respect of the same cause of action, the same subject-matter and the same relief.

2. To confine a plaintiff to one litigation, thus obviating the possibility of two contradictory verdicts by one and the same court in respect of the same relief.

3. To protect a person from multiplicity of proceedings and to avoid a conflict of decisions.

4. To avert inconvenience to the parties and gives effect to the rule of res judicata.

5. To save time and energy of courts as well as of parties.

6. The section does not bar the institution of a suit, but only bars a trial, if certain conditions are fulfilled. The subsequent suit, therefore, cannot be dismissed by a court, but is required to be stayed.

Case Reference-

Apsi Jal v. Khushroo Rustom Dadyburjor (2018) 4 SCC 333: (2013)-

 It was held that the keywords in Section 10 are "the matter in issue is directly and substantially in issue in a previously instituted suit." Hence, when the matter in controversy is the same, then only Section 10 applies. When it is different, the section has no application.