While ruling in favor of the Delhi government and its entities in a batch of land acquisition cases, the Supreme Court recently observed that the principle of res judicata may not strictly apply in situations where public interest is at stake.
About Principle of Res Judicata:
The concept of res judicata has evolved from the English Common Law System.
Res judicata literally means ‘the thing has been judged”. It is also known as claim preclusion.
The principle of res judicata applies when a litigant attempts to file a subsequent lawsuit on the same matter after having received a judgment in a previous case involving the same parties.
It is a judicial concept, which means that the issue before the court has already been decided by another court, between the same parties, and the courts do not allow a petition to be filed in the same court or in another court.
Therefore, the court will dismiss the case before it as being useless.
Res Judicata as a concept is applicable both in Civil as well as Criminal legal system.
Purpose:
To prevent injustice to the parties of a case supposedly finished.
To avoid unnecessary waste of resources and time of the judicial system.
Res judicata under Indian law has been embodied under Section 11 of the CPC (Code of Civil Procedure), 1908. It illustrates that if a matter is finally decided by a competent court, then the parties involved in the matter are not permitted to reopen it in subsequent litigation.
Some of the conditions for the application of Res Judicata include the same parties, the same title as the former suit, issue in the matter is same in former and subsequent suits, the suit is decided by a competent court and a final decision is provided.
The Supreme Court in Employee Welfare Association v. Union of Indiaruled that the “principle of Res Judicata is not a technical rule, it is a rule of public policy”. So, Res Judicata is an acknowledged principle of law and is essential for delivering fair justice.
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