- (1.) I have gone through the painstaking well versed judgment of My Lord the Hon'ble Mr. Justice Sanjib Banerjee. I fully endorse his view. Yet I wish to add few lines looking at the problem slightly from a different angle.
(2.) The owners would contend, section 14(3)(c)(iii) would specifically debar a developer to file a suit for specific performance against the owner of the property. They would gain support from Vipin Bhimani . They would also contend, we must give literal meaning to the provision that the Apex Court recognized as the golden principle of interpretation as observed in Lalu Prasad Yadav Vs. State of Bihar .
(3.) The relevant extract of section 14 is set out below: 1) "The following contracts cannot be specifically enforced, namely; a) a contract for the non-performance of which compensation in money is an adequate relief; b) a contract which runs into such minute or numerous details or which is so dependent on the personal qualifications or volition of the parties, or otherwise from its nature is such, that the Court cannot enforce specific performance of its material terms; c) a contract which is in its nature determinable; d) a contract the performance of which involves the performance of a continuous duty which the Court cannot supervise. 2) . 3) notwithstanding anything contained in Clause (a) or Clause (c) or Clause (d) of sub-section (i), the Court may enforce specific performance in the following cases :- a) b) . c) where the suit is for the enforcement of a contract for the construction of any building or the execution of any other work on land: Provided that the following conditions are fulfilled, namely: i) the building or other work is described in the contract in terms sufficiently precise to enable the court to determine the exact nature of the building or work; ii) the plaintiff has a substantial interest in the performance of the contract and the interest is of such a nature that compensation in money for nonperformance of the contract is not an adequate relief; and iii) the defendant has, in persuance of the contract, obtained possession of the whole or any part of the land on which the building is to be constructed or other work is to be executed.";