LAW FOR ALL

Apex court - Difference of opinions = whether the proceedings initiated by VENTURE in OP No. 390 of 2008 are barred by the principle of “issue estoppel”, = Issue-estoppel arises only if the earlier as well as the subsequent proceedings were criminal prosecutions. The principle of issue-estoppel is simply this: that where an issue of fact has been tried by a competent court on a former occasion and a finding has been reached in favour of an accused, such a finding would constitute an estoppel or res judicata against the prosecution not as a bar to the trial and conviction of the accused for a different or distinct offence but as precluding the reception of evidence to disturb that finding of fact when the accused is tried subsequently even for a different offence which might be permitted by law.