Kishor Ghanshyamsa Paralikar (D) through Lrs. vs. Balaji Mandir Sansthan Mangrul (Nath) & Another [Civil Appeal No. 3794/2022]
A court retains control over a suit for specific performance even after passing a decree
11. This section gives to the vendor or the lessor
the right to rescission of the contract for the sale or lease of the immovable
property in the same suit, when after a suit for specific performance is
decreed, if the vendor or the lessor fails to pay the purchase money within the
period fixed. This section seeks to provide complete relief to both the parties
in terms of a decree of specific performance in the said suit without having
resort to a separate proceeding. Therefore, a suit for specific performance
does not come to an end on the passing of a decree and the court which has
passed the decree for specific performance retains control over the decree even
after the decree has been passed. Section 28 not only permits the
judgment-debtors to seek rescission of the contract but also permits extension
of time by the court to pay the amount. The power under this section is
discretionary and the court has to pass an order as the justice of the case may
require. It is also settled that time for payment of sale consideration may be
extended even in a consent decree. This Court in Smt. Periyakkal and ors. Vs.
Smt. Dakshyani, speaking through Chinnappa Reddy, J. observed that even in a
compromise decree, the court may enlarge the time in order to prevent manifest
injustice, and to give relief to the aggrieved party against a forfeiture clause.
The Court observed the following:
“4.……………. The parties, however, entered into a compromise and invited the court to make an order in terms of the compromise, which the court did. The time for deposit stipulated by the parties became the time allowed by the court and this gave the court the jurisdiction to extend time in appropriate cases. Of course, time would not be extended ordinarily, nor for the mere asking. It would be granted in rare cases to prevent manifest injustice. True the court would not rewrite a contract between the parties but the court would relieve against a forfeiture clause; And, where the contract of the parties has merged in the order of the court, the court’s freedom to act to further the ends of justice would surely not stand curtailed.”