In Brief
Parvatewwa sued to invalidate an adoption deed from 1961, but the suit was dismissed as time-barred. While that appeal was pending, she filed a second suit for a declaration of ownership and recovery of possession of the same property. The lower courts dismissed the second suit as barred by the rule preventing multiple lawsuits over the same dispute (res judicata and Order II Rule 2 of the Civil Procedure Code). The High Court reversed this, allowing the second suit. The Supreme Court reinstated the dismissal, holding that since Parvatewwa knew of Channappa's competing claim to the property when filing the first suit, she should have sought both reliefs then. Filing separate suits for different aspects of the same property dispute was improper. The Court also found the High Court exceeded its authority by reassessing facts without proving the lower courts' findings were fundamentally wrong.
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