Law: Civil Procedure Code (V of 1908)

Section: 10, 151, 115

(a) Civil Procedure Code (V of 1908), Ss. 10 & 151-Stay of suit-Application under S.10-Object-Conditions to be considered ---Suit may be stayed under S. 151 for ends of justice where S. 10 does not strictly apply. The three essential conditions to be considered in an application under section 10 of the Code are (1) that the matter in issue in the second suit is directly and substantially in issue in the first suit; (2) that the parties in the second suit are the same; (3) that the Court in which the first suit is instituted is competent to grant the relief claimed in the subsequent suit. The object of such application under section 10, C. P. C. is to avoid conflict of judicial decisions by preventing Courts of concurrent jurisdiction from simultaneously adjudicating upon two or more parallel suits in which the matter in issue is substantially the same. It is also true that where section 10 does not strictly apply, for ends of justice suit may be stayed under section 151 of the Code. The Court can exercise its inherent power under section 151 in staying proceeding of a suit if it thinks that the suit is an abuse of process of the Court, or has been filed mala fide, or it is a vexatious suit constituting an abuse of the process of the Court, or in order to forestall the suit which the defendant would have filed in another Court. Madan Mohan v. Kuar Kamla Narain Dube A I R 1934 All. 520; L. Bal Krishna and others v. Ram Kishuna and others A I R 1929 All. 957; Sultanat Jahan Begam v. Sundar Lal A I R 1920 All. 197; Bibi Gurdevi v. Chaudhri Mohammad Baksha and others A I R 1943 Lah. 65; Firm Lal Chand Mangal Sain v. Firm Behari Lal Mehar Chand A I R 1924 Lah. 425; River Steam Navigation Co. Ltd. v. The Commissioners for the Port of Chittagong and another P L D 1961 Dacca 412; Joy Chand Lul Babu v. Kamalaksha Chaudhury and others P L D 1949 P C 114; Shahzada Mohd. Umar Beg v. Sultan Mahmood Khan, Excise and Taxation Sub-Inspector and others P L D 1970 S C '139; Sachindra Narayan Narayan Das and others v. Ranjani Kumar De and others 7 D L R 198 and Ch. Mohd. Afzal v. Mt. Sardar Begum and others P L D 1949 Lah. 69 ref. (b) Civil Procedure Code (V of 1908), S.…