What is res subjudice? Explain. Or  Pendency of a criminal case on the same factual foundation whether can be ground to stay the trial of the civil suit under Section 10 of CPC?  

Question: What is res subjudice? Explain.

Or

Pendency of a criminal case on the same factual foundation whether can be ground to stay the trial of the civil suit under Section 10 of CPC?

Find the answer to the mains question only on Legal Bites. [What is res subjudice? Explain. Or Pendency of a criminal case on the same factual foundation whether can be ground to stay the trial of the civil suit under Section 10 of CPC?]

Answer

Section 10 of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 deals with the principle of res sub judice. The principle bars the trial of a subsequent suit in which the matter in issue is directly and substantially in issue in a previously instituted suit between the same parties and the court before which the previously instituted suit is pending is competent to grant the relief sought.

The rule applies to the trial of a suit and not the institution thereof. It also does not preclude a court from passing interim orders, such as grant of injunction or stay, the appointment of a receiver, etc. It, however, applies to appeal and revisions.

For attracting the provisions of Section 10, the following conditions must be fulfilled:

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. The suits must be between the same parties or their successors.
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 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 suits.
7. As soon as the above conditions are satisfied, the court shall not proceed with the subsequently instituted suit.

Yes, the Pendency of a criminal case on the same factual foundation can be a ground to stay the trial of the civil suit under Section 10 of CPC. Hon’ble the Supreme Court in Indian Bank v. Maharashtra State Co-operative Marketing Federation Limited AIR 1998 SC 1952, while considering the scope of Section 10 CPC held as under:-

“6. Section 10 of the Code prohibits the court from proceeding with the trial of any suit in which the matter in issue is also directly and substantially in issue in a previously instituted suit provided other conditions mentioned in the section are also satisfied. The word ‘trial’ is no doubt of a very wide import as pointed out by the High Court. In legal parlance, it means a judicial examination and determination of the issue in civil or criminal court by a competent Tribunal.”

According to Webster Comprehensive Dictionary, International Edition, it means the examination, before a tribunal having assigned jurisdiction, of the facts or law involved in an issue in order to determine that issue. According to Stroud’s Judicial Dictionary (5th Edition), a ‘trial’ is the conclusion, by a competent tribunal, of question in issue in legal proceedings, whether civil or criminal.

Thus in its widest sense, it would include all the proceedings right from the stage of the institution of a plaint in a civil case to the stage of a final determination by a judgment and decree of the Court.

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