New Delhi: The Supreme Court has said that courts cannot use their discretion in a casual manner to dispose off suits pertaining to "Specific Performance of Contract," relating to different parties.
Any indiscreet use of the power could affect the rights of the parties as it does not involve mere question of facts, but also a question of law, a bench of Justices Arijit Pasayat and P Sathasivam said. The bench passed the ruling while upholding an appeal filed by two land owners challenging an order passed by a civil court and affirmed by the Karnataka High Court in favour of the public sector Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL).
A suit for specific performance of contract or duty is usually filed by an aggrieved person/organisation for fulfillment of a purported agreement/contract by the other party that has allegedly retracted from its duty. The BHEL had filed a suit for specific performance against the land owners Saroja Devi and her husband V K Harsha which was decreed in its favour by the trial court and later affirmed by the High Court.
In their appeal before the apex court, the aggrieved land owners complained that the High Court had merely reproduced a major portion of the trial court's judgement and dismissed their appeal.
