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Khajan Singh (D) Thr. LRs. v. Bankey (Dead) by LRs.

Miscellaneous Application · 2018 INSC 640Decided 25 Jul 2018
Miscellaneous Application No. 1529 of 2018 in Civil Appeal No. 3503 of 2008
Justice Kurian Joseph · Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul

Background

The appellant's wife had earlier filed a suit claiming inheritance to a property and lost. The appellant then filed a fresh suit over the same property claiming title by adverse possession. The High Court held this second suit was barred by res judicata, a finding also upheld by the First Appellate Court. An application to restore the appeal (which had earlier lapsed) was first taken up and allowed.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court restored the civil appeal to its original number and took it on board, but on merits found no ground to interfere with the concurrent findings of the courts below that the suit was barred by res judicata. The appeal was accordingly dismissed. The Court noted the litigation had dragged on for roughly four decades and was, in its view, frivolous enough to warrant exemplary costs, but it declined to impose them, persuaded by appellant's counsel's arguments, and instead ordered no costs.

Lesson Learnt

A person cannot relitigate the same property dispute under a different legal label (e.g., adverse possession) after already losing a claim over the same property on a different ground (e.g., inheritance) between the same parties: courts will treat it as barred by res judicata.

Official source (sci.gov.in)View Judgment (PDF)

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