In Brief
A group of former students and rate-payers filed a representative suit seeking a declaration that the government owned a disputed property and asking the appellant to deliver possession to the state. The appellant had previously obtained a decree of permanent injunction against the state in an earlier suit between them. The High Court had allowed the government's appeal and decreed the new suit in its favour. The Supreme Court set aside this decision, holding that the new suit was not maintainable because the plaintiffs were not parties to the earlier final decree and therefore lacked locus standi to challenge it on behalf of the state. The Court stressed that a decree that has attained finality binds the parties and cannot be circumvented through third-party representative suits.
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