The Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh High Court was considering a Petition challenging the award passed by the Lok Adalat as also order passed in the Execution Petition.
The Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh High Court ruled that a Lok Adalat Award ceases to be enforceable once a fresh case is filed under the Domestic Violence Act and relevant Criminal Procedure Code provisions on the same claim.
The Court was hearing a petition challenging both the Lok Adalat Award and the order in the related Execution Petition.
The single bench of Justice Sanjay Dhar observed, “…Once respondent No.1 has taken resort to filing of fresh petitions under the provisions of DV Act and Cr. P.C. against the petitioner and even obtained orders of interim maintenance in her favour, she cannot seek recovery of maintenance on the basis of compromise arrived at by the parties before the Lok Adalat in similar proceedings initiated in the first round of litigation….”
Facts of the Case
Respondent No.1 and Respondent No.2, the wife and minor daughter of the Petitioner, filed petitions under Section 12 of the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act and Section 125 of the Cr. P. C., along with police complaints against the Petitioner due to matrimonial disputes. While these proceedings were ongoing, the parties reached a compromise before the Lok Adalat, which resulted in an award being passed. According to the Petitioner, Respondent No.1 initially resumed matrimonial relations with him following the compromise but left with her minor daughter in March 2022 and initiated a fresh round of litigation. Additionally, she filed an application for the execution of the Lok Adalat award.
The Petitioner contested the impugned order, arguing that since the Respondents had already filed petitions under Section 12 of the DV Act and Section 125 of the Cr.P.C., the compromise and the award had become ineffective. It was also asserted that the Executing Court had no jurisdiction to hear the execution petition regarding the award once the Respondents claimed a breach of the compromise terms.
Reasoning By Court
The Court stated that the key issue to decide was whether the award remains enforceable when a fresh round of litigation is initiated. It accordingly held that the subsequent litigation rendered the Lok Adalat award redundant.
“If respondent No.1 was interested in getting the award of the Lok Adalat executed as against the petitioner, then she should not have initiated a fresh round of litigation against the petitioner by filing petitions under Section 12 of the DV Act and Section 125 of the Cr. P. C.,” the Court observed.
“If at all the petitioner had resiled from the terms of the compromise dated 17.04.2021, the option available with the respondents was either to get the award of the Lok Adalat executed or to seek revival of the earlier petitions filed by them under Section 12 of the DV Act and Section 125 of the Cr. P. C. The respondents are not only seeking execution of the award passed by the Lok Adalat on the basis of the compromise arrived at by the parties in the earlier petitions but they have also resorted to fresh round of litigation against the petitioner by filing petitions under Section 12 of the DV Act and Section 125 of the Cr. P. C. Both these proceedings i.e. execution of the award passed by the Lok Adalat on the basis of the compromise, which, admittedly, has been observed in breach by the parties, as also the fresh petitions filed under Section 12 of the DV Act and Section 125 of the Cr. P. C cannot be continued by the respondents,” the Court further observed.