Tripura High Court: The Division Bench of Sanjay Karol, CJ and Arindam Lodh, J. dismissed an appeal filed against the judgment rendered by trial court dismissing a civil suit.
The trial court dismissed the suit on grounds of res judicata. It was found that the issue of declaration of title over the suit land had already been decided in an earlier judgment. Furthermore, the judgment in the earlier suit was challenged in appeal before the High Court, but the appeal was dismissed and the earlier judgment attained finality.
The High Court observed that a subsequent suit, though by another person, but dealing with same subject matter, is hit by the principle of res judicata. The issue in the present suit was directly and substantially in issue in the earlier suit. It was stated that all litigations must come to an end. In such circumstances, the court found no reason to interfere with the trial court’s judgment. Thus, the appeal was dismissed. [Shayamal Bhattacharjee v. State of Tripura, 2019 SCC OnLine Tri 2, decided on 02-01-2019]
