Introduction

As per the provisions of Indian Contract Act, 1872, if any breach occurs the only relief is liquidated damages. But always compensate a damage with damages is not an adequate remedy. Sometime specific performance could help to provide justice to the aggrieved party. Specific relief is a remedy which aims at the exact fulfilment of an obligation or the specific performance of the contract. Civil laws in India provides two kinds of remedies: (i) those by which the suitor obtains the very thing which he is entitled; (ii) those by which the suitor does not obtains the very thing but compensation for the loss of it. The first is ‘specific relief’ and the second is ‘compensatory relief’. It is in this sense distinguishable from the general remedy which gives pecuniary compensation only. Where the aggrieved party can be compensated in money, he will get only a decree for damages and not the equitable remedy of specific performance. But where pecuniary compensation is no adequate relief for the non-performance of the contract, the specific relief may be granted as per the Specific Relief Act, 1963 but the scenario has been changed after the introduction of the Specific Relief (Amendment) Act, 2018, now irrespective of the adequacy of the pecuniary relief one can go for specific performance. Though specific performance is generally granted where there exists no standard for ascertaining actual damage. It is called ‘specific’ because under it the suitor gets his relief in specie i.e. the very thing which the other party was bound to perform or to forbear.

 For example, A agrees to sell a piece of land to B. B pays the agreed price, but A refuses to execute the transfer deed. B has the right to have the contract carried into effect by asking the court to compel A to perform the contract.

The following kinds of remedies are available under the provisions of the Specific Relief Act, 1963 including the Amendment Act of 2018:

• Recovery of Possession of the Property
• Specific/ Substituted Performance of Contracts
• Rectification of Instruments
• Rescission of Contracts
• Cancellation of Instruments
• Declaratory Decrees
• Injunction

1.1 Object

Granting of specific performance of a contract is a discretionary remedy. The discretion of the court, however, is not arbitrary, but should be sound and reasonable. Where time is of the essence of the contract (e.g. mercantile contracts) delay will bar a decree for specific performance. In contracts for sale or purchase of immovable property, equity does not regard time as the essence of the contract. Thus, in such contracts, delay may not bar a decree for specific performance.

Section 4 of the Specific Relief Act, 1963 enacts that specific relief can be granted only for the purpose of enforcing individual civil rights and not for the mere purpose of enforcing a penal law. The object of the legislature is that the enforcement of a penal law should not be the sole object of the specific relief, the real object being the protection of civil rights of a suitor or prevention of civil wrong to him.

A person entitle to possession of immovable property can recover it under Code of Civil Procedure.

1.2 Remedy to a Person Dispossessed of Immovable Property “Otherwise Than in Due Course of Law”

Section 6 of the Specified Relief Act, 1963, enumerates as under- “suit by person dispossessed of immovable property. –