JUDGEMENT
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(1.) This Regular Second Appeal
arises out of the judgment and decree dated
4-11-2006 passed by the Civil Judge (Junior Division),
Moga decreeing the suit of the
respondent/plaintiff for recovery of Rs. 3.00
lacs with interest in respect of an agreement
to sell executed between the parties for sale
of land. This judgment and decree was modified by
the Additional District Judge, Moga
in Civil Appeal No. 144 dated 6-12-2006 vide
the judgment and decree dated 4-4-2007.
The First Appellate Court modified the decree and instead of decreeing the suit for
recovery on account of earnest money has
decreed the suit for specific performance of
contract and directed the present appellant
vendor to execute the sale deed in respect
of the suit property within two months. It is
this finding of the First Appellate Court
which is assailed before me in this Regular Second Appeal.
(2.) The main thrust of the argument of
the learned Sr. Counsel for the appellant is
that the plaintiff has failed to establish his
readiness and willingness to perform his
part of the contract. Emphasis is laid on the
observations of the trial Court wherein the
trial Court has referred to the statements of
PW-3 Shushil Kumar Gupta, Senior Manager,
Oriental Bank of Commerce who appeared as a witness on behalf of the
plaintiff/respondent to prove the entries contained in the Bank Account of the plaintiff
to establish that the plaintiff had the capacity to pay the consideration amount in
order to perform his part of the contract. It
is contended that the accounts produced by
the Bank Manager do not satisfy the requirement of the
consideration amount was required to be paid under the agreement to
sell. From the judgments under appeal, it is
clear that both the Courts below have concurrently held that the plaintiff has proved
his readiness and willingness to perform his
part of the contract. The trial Court even by
returning such a finding exercised his discretion to deny the
relief of specific performance of contract and decreed the suit only
in respect of recovery of earnest money with
interest. From the perusal of the judgment
of the trial Court, it appears that the trial
Court has not recorded any reason whatsoever,
much less a legal and valid reason, to
deny the relief of specific performance of
agreement. On the contrary, the First Appellate
Court in paragraph 12 of the judgment/discussed the evidence and returned
a specific finding regarding the readiness
and willingness of the plaintiff to perform
his part of the contracl. The First Appellate
Court has recorded valid reason and accordingly based on reasoning and materials on
record, has modified the decree and granted
the relief of specific performance of contract.
(3.) Learned Sr. Counsel for the appellant
has relied on the judgment of the Apex Court
rendered in the case of His Holiness Acharya
Swami Ganesh Dassji v. Sita Ram Thapar,
(1996)4 Supreme Court Cases 526 : (AIR
1996 SC 2095) to canvass that the meanings
of "readiness" and "willingness" also
include the availability of "requisite funds
with a person. There is no dispute with this
proposition of law. However, it depends upon
the facts and circumstances of each and every case.
In the present case, the plaintiff
has established that he came from abroad
to execute the sale deed and pay the consideration amount even before the date for
execution of sale deed was fixed. A legal
notice was also served. The plaintiff has
approached the Registrar with the money.
On the basis of the evidence and materials
on record, it is not possible to interfere with
the findings of fact recorded by the First
Appellate Court. It is also no more res integra that the First Appellate Court is a trial
Court of fact. No substantial question of law is involved in the present appeal.;
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