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IndiaCivil
John Mathew vs Santha Paul
- Court
- Supreme Court of India
- Decided
- Sep 21, 2026
- Citation
- 2026 INSC 1020
- Judges
- K.V. Viswanathan, Arun Palli
AI breakdown
- A man claims his land was wrongly sold without his permission and wants the sale declared void.
- The Supreme Court decided the lower courts should not have dismissed the suit without more evidence.
- The key reason was that determining the time limit required examining more facts.
Parties
Applicant
John Mathew
Respondent
Santha Paul
Judgment text (excerpt)
John Mathew vs Santha Paul on 21 September, 2026
REPORTABLE
2026 INSC 1020 IN THE SUPREME COURT OF INDIA
CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION
CIVIL APPEAL NO. OF 2026
(ARISING OUT OF SLP (C) NO. 34086 OF 2025)
JOHN MATHEW ….…APPELLANT
VERSUS
SANTHA PAUL & ORS. ...…RESPONDENTS
IMPUGNED ORDER ............................................................................................6
SUBMISSIONS ON BEHALF OF THE APPELLANT .....................................7
SUBMISSIONS ON BEHALF OF THE RESPONDENTS ...............................8
ANALYSIS ..............................................................................................................9
Legislative history and the scheme of Order XIV Rule 2..............................10
What constitutes an ‘issue of law only’ ...........................................................13
Framing an issue and trying an issue ..............................................................16
Order XX Rule 5 and the sequence of trial.....................................................19
The scope of Prithvi Raj Jhingta v Gopal Singh ............................................21
Clarification of Sathyanath v Sarojamani ......................................................25
APPLICATION TO THE PRESENT CASE.....................................................27
Signature Not Verified
CONCLUSION .....................................................................................................34
Digitally signed by
SHUBHAM SONI
Date: 2026.09.21
14:39:57 IST
Reason:
…

Source: Indian Kanoon (indiankanoon.org). Indian court judgments are public records; the summary and translations are AI-generated.