Case: Mathura Prasad Bajoo Jaiswal &amp; Ors Vs. Dossibai N. B. Jeejeebhoy

1. Under an indenture, dated August 2, 1950, Dossibai - respondent in this appeal - granted a lease of 555 sq. yards in village Pahadi, Taluka Borivli to Mathura Prasad - appellant herein - for constructing buildings for residential or business purposes. The appellant constructed buildings on the land. He then submitted an application in the Court of the Civil Judge, Junior Division, Borivli, District Thana, that the standard rent of the land be determined under Section 11 of the Bombay Rents, Hotel and Lodging House Rates Control Act, 1947. The Civil Judge rejected the application holding that the provisions of the Bombay Rents, Hotel and Lodging House Rates Control Act, 1947, did not apply to open land let for constructing buildings for residence, education, business, trade or storage. This order was confirmed on September 28, 1955, by a single Judge of the Bombay High Court in a group of revision applications : Mrs. Dossibai N. B. Jeejeebhoy v. Hingoo Manohar Missar, Nos. 233 to 242 of 1955. But in Vinayak Gopal Limaye v. Laxman Kashinath Athavale, (ILR (1956) Bom 827  ) the High Court of Bombay held that the question whether Section 6(1) of the Act solely because open land may be used for residence or educational purposes only after a structure is built thereon. Relying upon this judgment, the appellant filed a fresh petition in the Court of the Small Causes, Bombay, for an order determining the standard rent of the premises. The application was filed in the Court of Small Causes because the area in which the land was situated had since been included within the limits of the Greater Bombay area. The Trial Judge rejected the application holding that the question whether to an open piece of land let for the purpose of constructing buildings for residence, education, business or trade Section 6(1) of the Act applied was res judicata since it had been finally decided by the High Court between the same parties in respect of the same land in the earlier proceedings for fixation of standard rent. The order was confirmed by a Bench of the Court of Small Causes and by the High Court of Bombay. With special leave, the appellant has appealed to this Court.

Court's reasoning:
10. A question relating to the jurisdiction of a Court cannot be deemed to have been finally determined by an erroneous decision of the Court. If by an erroneous interpretation of the statute the Court holds that it has no jurisdiction, the question would not, in our judgment, operate as res judicata.Similarly by an erroneous decision if the Court assumes jurisdiction which it does not possess under the statute, the question cannot operate as res judicata between the same parties, whether the cause of action in the subsequent litigation is the same or otherwise11. It is true that in determining the application of the rule of res judicata the Court is not concerned with the correctness or otherwise of the earlier judgment. The matter in issue, if it is one purely of fact, decided in the earlier proceeding by a competent Court must in a subsequent litigation between the same parties be regarded as finally decided and cannot be reopened. A mixed question of law and fact determined in the earlier proceeding between the same parties may not, for the same reason, be questioned in a subsequent proceeding between the same parties. But, where the decision is on a question of law, i.e., the interpretation of a statute, it will be res judicata in a subsequent proceeding between the same parties where the cause of action is the same, for the expression the matter in issue in Section 11, Code of Civil Procedure means the right litigated between the parties, i.e., the fact on which the right is claimed or denied and the law applicable to the determination of that issue. Where, however, the question is one purely of law and it relates to the jurisdiction of the Court or a decision of the Court sanctioning something which is illegal, by resort to the rule of res judicata a party affected by the decision will not be precluded from challenging the validity of that order under the rule of res judicata, for a rule of procedure cannot supersede the law of the land12. In the present case the decision of the Civil Judge, Junior Division, Borivli, that he had no jurisdiction to entertain the application for determination of standard rent, is, in view of the judgment of this Court, plainly erroneous : See Mrs. Dossibai N. B. Jeejeebhoy v. Khemchand Gorumal and Others (supra). If the decision in the previous proceeding be regarded as conclusive it will assume the status of a special rule of law applicable to the parties relating to the jurisdiction of the Court in derogation of the rule declared by the Legislature.