The Supreme Court in Sathyanath vs Sarojamani observed that res judicata cannot be decided as a preliminary issue when there exists a mixed question of fact and law.
While coming to the said conclusion, the Court also referred to the decision of this Court in Major S. S. Khanna v. Brig. F. J. Dillon [1] where in it was opined that under Order XIV Rule 2 of the Code where issues both of law and of fact arise in the same suit and the Court is of opinion that the case or any part thereof may be disposed of on the issues of law only, it shall try those issues first, and postpone the settlement of the issues of fact until other issues of law have been determined.
It was held that “……. Under Order 14 Rule 2 Code of Civil Procedure, where issues both of law and of fact arise in the same suit, and the Court is of opinion that the case or any part thereof may be disposed of on the issues of law only, it shall try those issues first, and for that purpose may, if it thinks fit, postpone the settlement of the issues of fact until after the issues of law have been determined. The jurisdiction to try issues of law apart from the issues of fact may be exercised only where in the opinion of the Court the whole suit may be disposed of on the issues of law alone, but the Code confers no jurisdiction upon the Court to try a suit on mixed issues of law and fact as preliminary issues. Normally all the issues in a suit should be tried by the Court: not to do so, especially when the decision on issues even of law depend upon the decision of issues of fact, would result in a lopsided trial of the suit.”
The same principle has been observed by this Court in Ramesh B. Desai and Ors. v. Bipin Vadilal Mehta and Ors.[2]
The Court observed that procedural rules are the hand maid of justice, they must be followed in letter and spirit but shouldn’t be applied in a mechanical way. Backing this opinion with the observation laid down in Sugandhi v. P. Rajkumar[3] where it was held that “if the procedural violation does not seriously cause prejudice to the adversary party, Courts must lean towards doing substantial justice rather than relying upon procedural and technical violations. It is not to be forgotten that litigation is nothing but a journey towards truth which is the foundation of justice and the Court is required to take appropriate steps to thrash out the underlying truth in every dispute”, the Court allowed the appeal.
[1] AIR 1964 SC 497
[2] (2006) 5 SCC 638
[3] (2020) 10 SCC 706