Madan Mohan and Ors. v. Gurmukh Singh and Ors.
Background
This matter reached the Supreme Court as a civil appeal (Nos. 8745-8746 of 2014) between Madan Mohan and others and Gurmukh Singh and others. While the appeals were pending, the parties resolved their dispute between themselves and recorded a "Terms of Mutual Settlement" dated 25.11.2015, which they placed before the Court as Annexure A-2. The short non-reportable judgment does not itself narrate the underlying facts of the original dispute, since by this stage the focus was only on recording and giving effect to the settlement.
Decision Breakdown
The Supreme Court noted that the parties had settled their dispute themselves and directed that the Terms of Mutual Settlement dated 25.11.2015 would form part of the Court's judgment. On that basis, the Court disposed of both appeals strictly in terms of that settlement, and all pending applications connected to the appeals were also disposed of. No independent adjudication on the merits of the original dispute was made or needed, since the settlement itself resolved the matter.
Lesson Learnt
Parties to a pending Supreme Court appeal can end the litigation by mutual settlement at any stage; once the Court records and adopts the settlement terms as part of its judgment, the appeal is finally and conclusively disposed of in those terms.