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Rehan Ahmed (D) Thr. LRs. vs. Akhtar Un Nisa (D) Thr. LRs.

Not available · 2024 INSC 329Decided 22 Apr 2024
Not available
Justice Vikram Nath

Background

In 1972, the appellant (decree holder) filed a suit for specific performance of an agreement to sell property in Jaipur. The parties reached a compromise in 1978, and a compromise decree was passed in 1979. Decades later, in execution proceedings, a legal heir of one of the original defendants objected under Section 47 of the Civil Procedure Code, arguing the decree was inexecutable and a nullity. The Executing Court rejected the objection, but the Rajasthan High Court allowed a revision petition and set aside the Executing Court's order.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court held that the compromise and the resulting 1979 decree, despite some procedural delay in recording it, complied with the requirements of the CPC. It also noted that an earlier, similar objection by another legal heir of the same defendant had already been rejected and upheld through multiple rounds of litigation up to the Supreme Court, so a fresh objection on the same grounds by a different heir amounted to an abuse of the legal process. The High Court's judgment was set aside, and the Executing Court's order rejecting the objections was restored.

Lesson Learnt

Once a challenge to the validity of a decree has been conclusively rejected through the appellate hierarchy, another legal heir of the same party cannot reopen the identical objection years later, doing so is treated as an abuse of the court process.

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

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