[Civil Appeal No.4227 of 2003]. A maze of facts and events, and a labyrinth of legal conundrums confront us in the course of the determination of this Appeal. Essentially, it is the ambit and sweep of the principle of res judicata that is at the centre of controversy. Additionally, Order II Rule 2 of the Code of Civil Procedure ("CPC" for brevity), which enshrines but another complexion of res judicata, also requires to be cogitated upon. The contention of the Appellant through its Trustees (hereafter referred to as 'Trust') is that the Respondents/Tenants ('Tenants' for brevity) of the demised property are barred by the principle of res judicata from challenging the findings of the Trial Court especially the Trust's ownership of the demised property, since the said Tenants have filed only one appeal, i.e. arising from O.S.6/78, without assailing identical conclusions arrived at by the Trial Court in O.S.5/78 and O.S.7/78. The uncontroverted facts are that the husband of the first Respondent/Tenants (namely, Kannaiya Chettiar along with another person Venkatarama Keddiar) the suit land on lease from Sethurama Chettiar on 1.3.1953 for a period of 12 years on a monthly rent of Rs.150/-. The Tenants were permitted to construct a cinema theatre on the suit land at their own cost, which they have done in the name and style of 'Raja Talkies', which is still in existence. In 1959 one of the partners died, resulting in the husband of Respondent No.1 assuming sole proprietorship of 'Raja Talkies'.
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