In Brief
The Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai sought to prosecute building occupants for structural violations. After the Metropolitan Magistrate refused to take cognizance, the Corporation appealed but the High Court dismissed it for lack of jurisdiction under Section 378 CrPC, though granted liberty to file a writ petition. The High Court then dismissed the subsequent writ petition, treating earlier observations as final. The Supreme Court held that observations made by a court lacking jurisdiction cannot acquire finality or serve as res judicata. The Court set aside the dismissal and remitted the writ petition for substantive hearing on merits, clarifying that only the jurisdictional finding (not the merits observations) in the earlier order was binding.
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