Contract and Legal Issues : An Important View of Supreme Court

Contract and Legal Issues : An Important View of Supreme Court

In the context of contract and legal issues around it, an important Judgment was passed by Hon'ble Supreme Court on 25 August 2022.

It has been commented at page nos. 26, 27 and 28 of Katta Sujatha Reddy v Siddamsetty Infra Projects Pvt. Ltd [2022] GCtR 1773 (SC) thus : - 

"Specific Relief Act, 1963 is the second legislation, replacing the earlier 1877 enactment of the Specific Relief Act. 

The 1963 Act was enacted after consideration of theLaw Commission in its Ninth Report. The 1963 Act more or less followed the English position on equitable remedy of specific performance.   In   Common   Law,   the   remedy   of   specific performance was unknown in the initial days and courts only granted damages for the value of goods if there was any breach of   contract.   Accordingly   English   Courts,   in   the   early   years, granted monetary relief. In order to rectify the harsh stance of law,   Courts   of   Equity   in   England   started   granting   relief of specific performance if the Court of Equity found  that granting damages would be inadequate or some special equitable rights of the plaintiff under a trust have been breached."

"In any case, grant of such relief, which emanated from equitable principles,   remained   discretionary.   This   principle   is   clearly explained by Swinfen Eady M.R., in Whiteley Limited v. Hilt (1918) 2 K.B. 808  , in the following manner: 

“The power vested in the Court to order the delivery up of a particular chattel is discretionary, and ought not to be exercised when the chattel is an ordinary article   of   commerce   and   of   no   special   value   or interest, and not alleged to be of any special value to the plaintiff and where the damages would fully compensate.”

"However, this was not the position under the Civil Law. 

Underthe Civil Law of contracts, adherence to  the sanctity 

 

of contract is enforced with greater rigour by inversing the situation. 

Thereason for choice of damages and specific performance 

range from legal to economic. It is in this context that the Courts cannot   engage   on   the   merits   of   having   damages   or   specific performance or a hybrid. It is best left to the legislature to choose   the   course   best­ suited   to   the   economy   without 

sheepishly following the typecast approach in England or Civil Law systems."

Kindly note that full text Judgments of Hon'ble Supreme Court can be downloaded absolutely free of cost from the official website at the link https://main.sci.gov.in/judgments - Then entering the date of Judgment, for example, as  25 August 2022.

Written by 

Vishal

Delhi

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