"116. The principle of res judicata is a procedural
provision. A jurisdictional question if wrongly decided
would not attract the principle of res judicata. When an
order is passed without jurisdiction, the same
becomes a nullity. When an order is a nullity, it cannot
be supported by invoking the procedural principles
like, estoppel, waiver or res judicata. This question has
since been considered in Sri Ramnik Vallabhdas
Madhvani and Ors. v. Taraben Pravinlal Madhvani :
2. The aforesaid errors in the judgment dated 24.06.2021 are apparent on
the face of the record, and therefore, need to be corrected. It is made clear
that in page 4 of the judgment at para 6, the parties, "Ashok Leyland Ltd. vs.
State of T.N. and another" shall be read in place of the parties "Ramnik
Vallabhdas Madhvani & Ors. Vs. Taraben Pravinlal Madhvani" and at last line
in place of citation "(2004) 1 SCC 497" the citation "(2004) 3 SCC 1" shall be
read. Likewise, in page 10 of the judgment at para 12, after the paragraph 7
"sub-para 8" shall be read as under:
118. The principle of res judicata is a procedural provision. A jurisdictional question if wrongly decided would not attract the principle of res judicata. When an order is passed without jurisdiction, the same becomes a nullity. When an order is a nullity, it cannot be supported by invoking the procedural principles like, estoppel, waiver or res judicata. This question has since been considered in Sri Ramnik Vallabhdas Madhvani and Ors. v. Taraben Pravinlal Madhvani: (2004)1SCC497 wherein this Court observed in the following terms :
14. The Defendants raised a further defence that the transfer of
business with goodwill, includes the transfer of the corporate name
“Beardsell”, and relied upon Ramnik Vallabhdas Madhvani v. Taraben
Pravinlal Madhvani (2004) 1 SCC 497 and, in particular, paragraph 68
thereof in this regard. On perusal of the MoU, it is clear that the EPS
business in East India was transferred and the fourth Defendant was granted
the right to operate this business through a “New Company”. The MoU
recognised that this was only part of the pan-India business of the Plaintiff.
In these circumstances, the transfer of goodwill under the MoU cannot be
construed as including an assignment or transfer of ownership, whether sole
or joint ownership, of the corporate name/trademark “Beardsell”. At best, in
view of Clause 14, the Plaintiff agreed to permit one new company to carry
on the acquired business, including by using the corporate name/trademark.
For all these reasons, Issue No.2 is decided in favour of the Plaintiff and
against the Defendants.
4. The Deed of Assignment dated 9.10.1971 specifically states that Haveli Ram Gandhi conveys to the Assignees [family of Qimat Ram Gupta] by sale, transfer and assignment the proprietary rights in the registered Trade Mark No. 167434 and trade mark in the pending applications Nos.272378 and 272379 but without the goodwill of the business. As has already been mentioned above, considerable emphasis has been laid on these words by the learned Single Judge and in our view rightly so. It will be worthwhile to reiterate the definition given to the term goodwill in Cooper, namely, that -'Goodwill of a business is an intangible asset. It is the whole advantage of the reputation and connections formed with the customers together with the circumstances making the connection durable
. We also draw upon the discussion of a definition of 'goodwill' available in Ramnik Vallabhdas v. Taraben Pravinlal Madhvani . Thereafter, in paragraph 57 of Ramdev it has been digested that normally goodwill will encompass a trade mark, but there can be exceptions thereto. The learned Single Judge had concluded that the use of the word goodwill encompasses the use of the word 'Havell's' in the trade name. Prima facie, since the Assignment Deed in terms conveys only the trade mark, at the interlocutory stage all Page 2493 other rights must be held not to have been transferred. This is the first factor which distinguishes this case from ATLAS.