SC Explains When Doctrine Of Res Judicata As Between Co-Defendants Can Be Applied [Read Judgment]

The Supreme Court has reiterated that the following four conditions are required to be satisfied while considering the applicability of the doctrine of res judicata as between co-defendants: There must be a conflict of interest between the defendants concerned; It must be necessary to decide the conflict in order to give the reliefs which the plaintiff claims; The question between the. The Supreme Court has reiterated that the following four conditions are required to be satisfied while considering the applicability of the doctrine of res judicata as between co-defendants: There must be a conflict of interest between the defendants concerned; It must be necessary to decide the conflict in order to give the reliefs which the plaintiff claims; The question between the defendants must have been finally decided; and The co-defendants were necessary or proper parties in the former suit. The requisite conditions to apply the principle of res judicata as between co-defendants are that there must be conflict of interest between the defendants concerned, it must be necessary to decide this conflict in order to give the plaintiff the relief he claims and the question between the defendants must have been finally decided. All the three requisite conditions are absent in the matter on hand.” The court referred to Privy Council decisions in this aspect and also the decision of the Supreme Court in Mahboob Sahab vs. Syed Ismail and Others, and said: “It is true that under Section 11 of the CPC, when the matter has been directly or substantially in issue in a former suit between the same parties or between parties under whom they or any of them claim, litigating under the same title, the decree in the former suit would operate as res judicata between the plaintiff and the defendant or as between the co-plaintiffs or co-defendants.