India News | Purchaser Has to Prove Readiness to Pay to Get Order Asking Property Seller to Sell: SC

New Delhi, Jul 12 (PTI) A property purchaser has to prove his "readiness and willingness" to perform his part of obligations to the sale agreement to seek a judicial order directing the seller to abide by his obligations, the Supreme Court said on Tuesday.

The purchaser usually knocks the doors of the courts under the Specific Relief Act, 1963 seeking a direction to the seller to sell on the ground that the purchasers are willing and ready to pay.

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A bench comprising justices Indira Banerjee and Hrishkesh Roy, while setting aside the decrees of the trial court and the high court which had asked a seller to sell his property under the law, discussed the legal provisions and said it is for the proposed purchaser to show that he was in a position to pay the balance amount.

"It is well settled that, in a suit for Specific Performance of an agreement, it is for the Plaintiff to prove his readiness and willingness to perform his obligations under the agreement. Where a certain amount has been paid in advance and the balance is required to be paid within a stipulated time, it is for the Plaintiff to show that he was in a position to pay the balance money.

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"The Plaintiff has to prove that he has the money or has alternatively made necessary arrangements to get the money,” Justice Banerjee, writing the judgement, said.

The purchaser will have to plead that he had sufficient funds or was in a position to raise funds in time to discharge his obligation under the contract, it said.

"If the plaintiff does not have sufficient funds with him to discharge his obligations in terms of a contract, which requires payment of money, the plaintiff would have to specifically plead how the funds would be available to him ," it said.

The verdict came on an appeal of one U N Krishnamurthy (now deceased) who was asked by the courts below to perform his part of contract by selling the property situated at Krishnagiri district of Tamil Nadu.

The seller had agreed to sell the suit property to the respondent for a consideration of Rs 15.10 lakh, out of which a sum of Rs 10,001 was paid in 2003. The alleged oral agreement to sale was witnessed by a property dealer.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)