NDLI: Desh Raj & Ors. Vs. Rohtash Singh

Content Provider	Supreme Court of India
e-ISSN	30484839
Language	English
Access Restriction	NDLI
Subject Keyword	74 – Specific Relief Act - s. 22 – Specific performance of agreement Contract Act 1872: s. 55
Content Type	Text
Resource Type	Law Judgement
Jurisdiction	India
Case(s) Referred	Referred Case 0 Referred Case 1 Referred Case 2 Referred Case 3 Referred Case 4 Referred Case 5
Case Type	Appeal
Court	Supreme Court of India
Disposal Nature	Appeal Allowed
Headnote	Contract Act, 1872: s. 55, 74 – Specific Relief Act – s. 22 – Specific performance of agreement – Effect of failure to perform at fixed time, in contract in which time is essential – Refund of earnest money – Appellants, joint owners of their respective share in the property entered into separate sale agreement with the respondent – As per the agreements, the earnest money could be confiscated by the appellants if the sale deed was not executed on prescribed date – Respondent made a part payment towards the sale as earnest money – Respondent was liable to secure necessary No Objection Certificates and intimate the appellant before the date of execution failing which the agreement was deemed to be cancelled – Appellant was to obtain the permission under the HMGA and they obtained the same and appeared before the sub-registrar on the date of execution, however, the respondent failed to appear for execution of the sale deed as also on the extended date – Appellant forfeited the earnest money and treated the sale deed as cancelled – Respondent then filed a suit for specific performance of the contract – During pendency, the State Government initiated acquisition proceedings and acquired the said property – Trial court holding that both the parties were equally responsible for rendering sale agreements as unenforceable, and that the sale agreements were either way rendered impossible to perform in view of the land acquisition proceedings, granted a decree of recovery of earnest money to the respondent, along with requisite interest – First appellate court and High Court upheld the same – On appeal, held: Sale Agreements clearly indicate the intention of the parties to treat time-bound performance as an essential condition – There was an undue delay on behalf of the respondent to institute the suit, the relief of specific performance cannot be granted – Respondent led no evidence to indicate that he took any proactive steps to obtain the purported NOC necessary to execute the sale deed – Plea of non-corporation against the appellants in respect of obtaining the NOC not made out by the respondent – Furthermore, no such NOC was required in the first place as the property was agricultural land on the date of execution – Respondent failed to prove that the appellants were willfully avoiding the performance of their contract – Further, as respondent did not pray for refund of earnest money in original plaint, the court cannot suo moto grant the refund of earnest money – Forfeiture of earnest money by appellants was justified and within the confines of reasonable compensation as per s. 74 of Contract Act since the nature of forfeiture was never contested by the respondent and the respondent never prayed for the refund of earnest money – Sale agreements should have been rightly held to be terminated instead of being declared impossible to perform – Thus, the judgments of courts below side aside and suit is dismissed – Hindu Minority and Guardianship Act, 1956 – Haryana Development and Regulation of Urban Areas Act, 1975.
Judge	Hon'ble Mr. Justice Surya Kant
Neutral Citation	2022 INSC 1279
Petitioner	Desh Raj & Ors.
Respondent	Rohtash Singh
SCR	[2022] 18 S.C.R. 65
Judgement Date	2022-12-14
Case Number	9217

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