Section 10 CPC stay requires a prior suit; a company petition cannot suspend a later money suit.

Section 10 of the Code of Civil Procedure applies only when the earlier matter is a previously instituted suit in which the same issue is directly and substantially in issue. A company petition is not instituted by plaint and is not a suit within Order 4 Rule 1, so it cannot support a stay of a later money suit under Section 10. The later reference to the Debt Recovery Tribunal did not create any jurisdictional basis for stay, and the stay request therefore failed.

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Issues: Whether Section 10 of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 could be invoked to stay a money suit on the ground that a company petition involving similar issues was pending.

Analysis: Section 10 applies only where the matter in issue is directly and substantially in issue in a previously instituted suit. A company petition is not instituted by a plaint and therefore is not a suit within the meaning of Order 4 Rule 1 of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908. Since the pending company proceeding was not a suit, it could not form the basis for staying the money suit under Section 10. The subsequent reference to the Debt Recovery Tribunal did not alter the absence of jurisdictional basis for stay in the revision.

Conclusion: Section 10 of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 was inapplicable and the request for stay failed.

Ratio Decidendi: Section 10 of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 can be invoked only when the earlier proceeding is a previously instituted suit; a company petition is not a suit and cannot justify a stay of the later suit.

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