Ram Bahadur Thakur And Co. vs Devidayal (Sales) Ltd. on 12 August, 1953
The suit at Indore which had been instituted
later, could be stayed in view of s. 10 of the
Code. The provisions of that section are clear,
definite and mandatory. A Court in which a
subsequent suit has been filed is prohibited from
proceeding with the trial of that suit in certain
specified circumstances. When there is a special
provision in the Code of Civil Procedure for
dealing with the contingencies of two such suits
being instituted, recourse to the inherent powers
under s. 151 is not justified. The provisions of
s. 10 do not become inapplicable on a Court
holding that the previously instituted suit is a
vexatious suit or has been instituted in violation
of the terms of the contract. It does not appear
correct to say, as has been said in Ram Bahadur v.
Devidayal Ltd. (1) that the Legislature did not
contemplate the provisions of s. 10 to apply when
the previously instituted suit be held to be
instituted in those circumstances. The provisions
of s. 35A indicate that the Legislature was aware
of false or vexatious claims or defences
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being made, in suits, and accordingly provided for
compensatory cost. The Legislature could have
therefore provided for the non-application of the
provisions of s. 10 in those circumstances, but it
did not. Further, s. 22 of the Code provides for
the transfer of a suit to another Court when a
suit which could be instituted in any one of two
or more Courts is instituted in one of such
Courts. In view of the provisions of this section,
it was open to the respondent to apply for the
transfer of the suit at Asansol to the Indore
Court and, if the suit had been transferred to the
Indore Court, the two suits could have been tried
together. It is clear, therefore, that the
Legislature had contemplated the contingency of
two suits with respect to similar reliefs being
instituted and of the institution of a suit in one
Court when it could also be instituted in another
Court and it be preferable, for certain reasons,
that the suit be tried in that other Court.