Lok Sabha Passes the Specific Relief (Amendment) Bill, 2018

March 20, 2018

The Specific Relief (Amendment) Bill, 2018 amending the Specific Relief Act, 1963 was passed by the Lok Sabha on March 15, 2018. The proposed amendment to the Specific Relief Act has been formulated with the intention to further ease the process of doing business in India.

Salient Features of the Bill are enumerated below:

The proposed Bill substitutes Section 14 to include contracts not specifically enforceable i.e. where a party to the contract has obtained substituted performance of contract in accordance with the provisions of section 20, a contract, the performance of which involves the performance of a continuous duty which the court cannot supervise, a contract which is so dependent on the personal qualifications of the parties that the court cannot enforce specific performance of its material terms and a contract which is in its nature determinable.

The Bill proposes incorporation of Section 14A to provide for engagement of experts to assist it on any specific issue involved in the suit.

Section 20 as proposed by the Bill substitutes old Section 20 to provide for substituted performance of contract and states that where contract is broken due to non-performance of promise by any party, the party who suffers by such breach shall have the option of substituted performance through a third party or by his own agency, and, recover the expenses and other costs actually incurred, spent or suffered by him, from the party committing such breach.

The Bill seeks to incorporate Section 20A to provide for Special provisions for contract relating to infrastructure project. The new provision prohibits grant of injunction in a suit involving a contract relating to an infrastructure project specified in the Schedule, where granting injunction would cause impediment or delay in the progress or completion of such infrastructure project.