Dr. Amit Arya Vs Kamlesh Kumari (Supreme Court of India)
Delay in Depositing Balance Sale Consideration Not Fatal to Specific Performance Decree; Hyper-Technical Objections Rejected-SC
(Civil Appeal arising out of SLP(C) No.20991/2022, judgment dated 19-Dec-2025) held that delay in filing execution petition or delay in depositing balance sale consideration does not render a decree for specific performance inexecutable, when readiness & willingness of the decree-holder stands judicially affirmed. The Court ruled that a hyper-technical approach adopted by the High Court in treating the two-month time limit in the trial court decree as mandatory & fatal was contrary to law.
Interpreting Section 28 of the Specific Relief Act, 1963, the Supreme Court clarified that non-payment within stipulated time does not automatically amount to abandonment or rescission of the contract, unless conduct shows a positive refusal to perform. The Court relied upon precedents including Ramankutty Gupta, V.S. Palanichamy Chettiar, and Ram Lal v. Jarnail Singh, reiterating that courts must avoid technical knock-outs in equity-based reliefs like specific performance.
Applying the doctrine of merger, the Court held that the trial court decree merged with the final High Court judgment restoring specific performance, and therefore the decree remained executable. Consequently, the High Court order dismissing execution was set aside, the executing court’s order rejecting objections was restored, and directions were issued to proceed with execution of the sale deed in accordance with law.
FULL TEXT OF THE SUPREME COURT JUDGMENT/ORDER
