The Scheme of the Specific Relief Act 1963

Section 3:

"Except as otherwise provided herein, nothing in this Act shall be deemed

(a) to deprive any person of any right to relief, other than specific performance, which he may have under any contract; or

(b) to affect the operation of the Indian Registration Act, 1908, on documents."

Section 4:

"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."

Broken down

Section 2: the four definitions and the importing clause

"Obligation" includes every duty enforceable by law. Deliberately wide. It is not confined to contractual duties, which is why the Act can reach obligations arising from trusts, from statute and from the general law.

"Settlement" is defined for the rectification and cancellation chapters, and note the exclusion: a will or codicil is not a settlement.

"Trust" and "trustee" are imported from the Indian Trusts Act 1882, and "trust" expressly includes an obligation in the nature of a trust under Chapter IX of that Act, which is the chapter on constructive trusts. That matters for sections 8 and 11.

Clause (e) is the workhorse. Everything else defined in the Contract Act carries over. So when section 9 speaks of a defence available "under any law relating to contracts", or section 14 of a contract, the Contract Act supplies the meaning.

Section 3: two savings

(a) Rights to relief other than specific performance are preserved. So a plaintiff who cannot get specific performance is not thereby deprived of damages under sections 73 to 75 of the Contract Act. The Act adds remedies; it does not take the ordinary ones away.

(b) The Registration Act 1908 is unaffected. So an unregistered document that the law requires to be registered does not become effective merely because this Act offers a remedy. A decree for specific performance of an agreement to sell land does not dispense with the registered conveyance.

Section 4: the boundary

"Individual civil rights." The plaintiff must assert a private right of his own.

"Not for the mere purpose of enforcing a penal law." The word "mere" is doing the work. Where the plaintiff has a genuine civil right, the fact that the defendant's conduct is also an offence does not bar him. What is barred is a suit whose real object is the enforcement of a penal provision.

The architecture of the Act

Holding the shape of the Act is the fastest way to navigate this Module, and MU's topic 4.2 is a request for exactly this map.

The Schedule, whose heading refers the reader to sections 20A and 41(ha), was inserted by the 2018 amendment and defines what counts as an infrastructure project. See [Infrastructure Projects, Special Courts and Expeditious Disposal].

A worked example

Test four claims against the opening Part.

• Pooja sues her neighbour for a decree ordering him to stop building over her boundary. She is asserting an individual civil right, her right in her own land, and seeking preventive relief. Section 4 is satisfied.
• She sues for a decree ordering the municipal corporation to prosecute him under the building regulations. The real object is the enforcement of a penal law, and section 4 bars it. Her own civil remedies remain.
• Her agreement to buy a flat is unregistered. She seeks specific performance. Section 3(b) preserves the Registration Act, so the decree cannot dispense with what that Act requires; and a decree for specific performance operates to compel execution of a proper registered conveyance, not to substitute for it.
• The court refuses specific performance of her contract because of section 14. Section 3(a) preserves her right to relief other than specific performance, so she may still claim damages under section 73 of the Contract Act.

What it does NOT mean

"The Act is a complete code of contractual remedies." Section 3(a) preserves rights to relief other than specific performance, and damages come from the Contract Act.

"An unregistered agreement is cured by a decree under this Act." Section 3(b) preserves the Registration Act.

"A plaintiff cannot sue if the defendant's act is also a crime." Section 4 bars a suit brought for the mere purpose of enforcing a penal law, not one asserting a genuine civil right that happens to overlap with an offence.

"'Trust' means only an express trust." Section 2(c) includes an obligation in the nature of a trust under Chapter IX of the Indian Trusts Act 1882.

"The Act still excludes Jammu and Kashmir." Those words were omitted by Act 34 of 2019.

Quick revision

• s.1: short title; extends to the whole of India (the Jammu and Kashmir words omitted by Act 34 of 2019); in force 1 March 1964 by S.O. 189 of 13 January 1964.
• s.2: "obligation" = every duty enforceable by law; "settlement" excludes a will or codicil; "trust" as in the Indian Trusts Act 1882 including obligations in the nature of a trust; and clause (e) imports every other expression defined in the Contract Act 1872.
• s.3: saves (a) any right to relief other than specific performance under a contract, and (b) the operation of the Registration Act 1908.
• s.4: specific relief only to enforce individual civil rights, and not for the MERE purpose of enforcing a penal law.
• Architecture: possession 5 to 8; specific performance 9 to 25; rectification 26; rescission 27 to 30; cancellation 31 to 33; declaration 34, 35; injunctions 36 to 42; 43 and 44 repealed. The Schedule defines infrastructure projects.

Test yourself

1. What does section 2(e) do, and why does it matter? It provides that all words and expressions used in the Act but not defined in it, and defined in the Indian Contract Act 1872, have the meanings assigned to them in that Act. It matters because it imports the whole vocabulary of contract, so terms such as contract, agreement, void, voidable and coercion mean here exactly what the Contract Act makes them mean, and it is what joins this Module to the first three.

2. What are the two savings in section 3? That nothing in the Act shall be deemed to deprive any person of a right to relief, other than specific performance, which he may have under any contract; and that nothing in it shall be deemed to affect the operation of the Indian Registration Act 1908 on documents. The first preserves damages, the second preserves registration requirements.

3. Explain the limit in section 4. Specific relief may be granted only for the purpose of enforcing individual civil rights, and not for the mere purpose of enforcing a penal law. The plaintiff must therefore assert a private right of his own; and the word "mere" means that a suit is not barred simply because the defendant's conduct also constitutes an offence.

4. Set out the architecture of the Act. Part I, sections 1 to 4, is preliminary. Part II contains the substantive reliefs: recovering possession of immovable property under sections 5 and 6 and of movable property under sections 7 and 8; specific performance under sections 9 to 25; rectification under section 26; rescission under sections 27 to 30; cancellation under sections 31 to 33; and declaratory decrees under sections 34 and 35. Part III, sections 36 to 42, deals with preventive relief by injunction. Sections 43 and 44 are repealed, and a Schedule inserted in 2018 defines infrastructure projects.

5. When did the Act come into force, and does it still exclude any territory? It came into force on 1 March 1964, the date appointed under section 1(3) by notification S.O. 189 dated 13 January 1964. It extends to the whole of India; the words excepting the State of Jammu and Kashmir were omitted by Act 34 of 2019.