Specific Relief Act, 1963

Specific Relief Act, 1963 Specific Relief Act, 1963 (hereinafter referred 'SRA') came into force on 1st of March 1964. The Parliament enacted the Act by repealing the SRA 1877. However this Act was amended three times in the year 1964, 1974 and in 2018 (wef - 1st of October 2018). 111

Inside this Article:

Specific Relief Act based on three maxims
Basics of Specific Relief Act
Part I - Preliminary (Section 1-4)

Short title, extent and commencement of SRA
Definitions
Savings
Enforcement of Specific Relief Act

Specific Relief Act based on three maxims:-

1. "He who seeks equity must do equity" means to enforce the obligation plaintiff must perform his part of obligation.

2. "One who seeks equity must come with clean hand" means the plaintiff who prays before court he must be not in default at his place.

3. "Delay defeats equity" if there is too much unreasonable delay in bringing suit the case may be disallowed in equity. There is another well known maxim is "Vigilantibus, non dormentibus, jura subvenient" means law helps those who are vigilant about there right and not to those who are sleepover there right.

Basics of Specific Relief Act:-

Specific Relief Act 1963 originally contained 44 sections. Section 43 and 44 were repealed by the Amendment Act of 1974.

These 42 Sections are divided into 3 Parts and Parts are divided into 7 chapters. and one schedule which is inserted by the Specific Relief (Amendment) Act 2018.

Part I consist of 1-4 sections and talks about preliminary, definitions, savings and when such relief is granted.
Part II consist of Section 5-35 and they are divided into six chapters.

Chapter I - Recovery of Possession of Property (Section 5-8)
Chapter II - Specific performance of contract (Section 9-25)
Chapter III - Rectification of Instrument (Section 26)
Chapter IV - Rescission of Contracts (Section 27-30)
Chapter V - Cancellation of Instrument (31-33)
Chapter VI - Declarative Relief (Section 34-35)

Part III consist Chapter IV and this chapter talks about Injunction (Section 36-42)
Schedule 1 talks about the Category of Project and Infrastructure Sub-sectors [Read with Section 20A & 41(ha)].

In ordinary legal cases, people usually get compensation or damages. However, in some situations, this compensation might not be enough for the parties involved. Therefore, Specific Relief Act is about to provide some specific relief in terms of recovery of possession of property, specific performance of contract, rectification of instrument, rescission of contract, cancellation of instrument, declarative relief or injunction wherever it may fit.

However according to the preamble of the Specific Relief Act 1963 it is not an exhaustive law but it provides only certain kinds of specific relief therefore it can be conclude that other specific relief may be granted by another enactments.

Part I - Preliminary (Section 1-4)

Short title, extent and commencement of SRA

Section 1 - talks about the Short title, extent and commencement of SRA

Short Title - Specific Relief Act, 1963

Extends to - Whole of India including the State of Jammu and Kashmir

commencement - SRA came into force on 1st of March 1963.

by the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019 this Act also made applicable to the state of Jammu and Kashmir from the 31st if October 2019.

Definitions

Section 2 deals with definitions clause it defines obligation, settlement, trust and trustee & which words not defined in SRA but which is defined in the Indian Contract Act, 1872 which shall have respective meanings in that Act.

a) Obligation

includes every duty enforceable by law. however the definition of the obligation is not complete but it is inclusive in nature. In general obligation means the responsibility of the party to meet the terms of the contract or agreement. if the obligation is not fulfilled it can be enforce against the party who not met the terms of the contract or agreement.

b) Settlement means an instrument (other than will or codicil) by which -

- the destination or devolution of successive interest in the movable or immovable property

- is disposed of or agreed to be disposed of .

settlement can be said as the transfer or agreed to be transfer of an interest in the movable or immovable property to the other.

c) Trust - trust has the same meaning as per the Section 3 of the Indian trust Act, 1882 & also includes the obligation in the nature of trust.

Trust is not defined in the Specific relief Act, it refers the section 3 of the Indian trust Act, Section 3 of the said Act - defines the trust as "is an obligation annexed to the ownership of property, and arising out of a confidence reposed in and accepted by the owner, or declared and accepted by him, for the benefit of another, or of another and the owner.

d) Trustee - also has the same meaning as per section 3 of the Indian Trust Act, 1882. Section 3 of the said act defines trustee as "the person who accepts the confidence is called trustee"

e) Other expressions - all other words and expression used herein but not defined, and defined in the Indian Contract Act, 1872 have the meaning respectively assigned to them in that Act.

Savings

Section 3 deals with the saving clause means it saves something from the effect of this act.

it said that this Act shall not be deemed;

to deprive any person of any right to relief, other than specific performance, which he may have under any contract, or
to affect the operation of the Indian Registration Act, 1908 on documents.

section 3 said that Specific Relief Act shall not deprive any person any right to relief. any right to relief can be include other rights enforceable other than this act. which he may be enforce and this act shall not deprive any person to such relief. however for the purpose of specific performance under any contract it might be not enforceable. as per the section 11(2), 14, 16 and Section 20 there is a bar to enforcement of specific performance of the contract

When specific performance cannot be granted -

when contract made by a trustee in excess of his power or acts in breach of trust.
when plaintiff obtained substituted performance under section 20 of the specific relief act.
when the performance involves the continuous duty of the court which the court cannot supervise.
it performance depends on the personal qualification.
when contract is in nature determinable.
when the party to contract become incapable of performing.
when party violets the essential terms of the contract.
when part of the contract remains to be performed by the party
when one party act in the subversion (destruction) of the relation intended to be established by the contract.
when plaintiff fails to prove the ready and willingness to performed the contract.

in the aforementioned cases the specific performance of the contract shall rejected. and

Section 3 also saves the operation operation of the Indian Registration Act on the documents.

Enforcement of Specific Relief Act-

Section 4 of the Specific relief Act talks about specific relief for enforcing individual civil rights and not for enforcing penal laws.

"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. It means the provisions of the Specific Relief Act are applicable only to civil cases and not to criminal case.

You can download chart notes of Specific Relief Act by clicking on https://rzp.io/l/SRAchart

Specific Relief Act - Introduction