Consent decree cannot be modified unless mistake is patent or obvious: Supreme Court

The Supreme Court on Friday held that a consent decree cannot be modified/altered even if there is a mistake in the same unless the mistake is a patent or obvious one [Ajanta LLP vs Casio Keisanki Kabushiki Kaisha d/b/a Casio Computer Co. Ltd]..Otherwise, there is a danger of every consent decree being sought to be altered on the ground of mistake/misunderstanding by a party to the consent decree, a Bench of Justices L Nageswara Rao and BR Gavai held. "A judgment by consent is intended to stop litigation between the parties just as much as a judgment resulting from a decision of the Court at the end of a long drawn-out fight," the Court observed..In the present case between two calculator manufacturing companies, the respondent Casio had alleged that the appellant Ajanta had lifted each and every novel element of the original design, shape and configuration for its scientific/ electronic calculator ‘ORPAT FX-991ES PLUS’.The respondent applied for a design registration for its electronic calculator namely ‘CASIO FX-991ES PLUS’ and it was introduced in India in October, 2011. Having knowledge about the sale of the scientific calculator by the appellant under the name ‘ORPAT FX 991ES PLUS’, the respondent filed a civil suit for the reliefs referred to above..After Delhi High Court passed an ex-parte order, the parties were referred for mediation and a settlement agreement was arrived at. The High Court decreed the suit in terms of the settlement agreement.Later, the appellant filed an application for amending the judgment since the settlement agreement pertained only to trademark “FX-991ES PLUS’/ ‘FX-991”. However, there was an inadvertent typographical error of the trademark in the settlement agreement as “FX-991ES PLUS/ FX/ 991”. The High Court rejected the application leading to the present appeal..The Supreme Court held that correspondence between the advocates for the parties who are experts in law showed that there was no ambiguity or lack of clarity giving rise to any misunderstanding.."Even assuming there is a mistake, a consent decree cannot be modified/ altered unless the mistake is a patent or obvious mistake. Or else, there is a danger of every consent decree being sought to be altered on the ground of mistake/ misunderstanding by a party to the consent decree," the Court said..The top court came to the conclusion that after close scrutiny of the correspondence between the parties, it would show that the settlement agreement was arrived at after detailed consultation and deliberations.The parties were communicating with each other and they took six months to arrive at a settlement. The final settlement agreement was approved by the mediator, the Court held."A compromise decree creates an estoppel by judgment," the top court said while rejecting the appeal..[Read Judgment]