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Hanumappa Channappa Hullur (D) by LRs. v. Shivamaruthappa Parappa Kalli & Ors.

Civil Appeal · Neutral citation not assigned (Civil Appeal Nos. 411-412 of 2004)Decided 21 Aug 2015
Civil Appeal Nos. 411-412 of 2004
Justice C. Nagappan · Justice M.Y. Eqbal

Background

Hanumappa Hullur had agreed to buy land from Parappa for Rs. 72,000, paying Rs. 53,000 as earnest money and taking possession, but Parappa's sons later refused to complete the sale, claiming the land was undivided joint family property in which their father held only a one-third share and that he had no authority to sell their shares. The trial court and first appellate court decreed specific performance in the buyer's favour, but the Karnataka High Court reversed this in second appeal, holding the sale agreement unenforceable because the father could not bind his sons' shares and the sale could not be split.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court held that even when a person contracts to sell property he does not fully own, the buyer is entitled to a decree of specific performance to the extent of the seller's own actual share, under the doctrine of "partial performance", relying on its earlier rulings in A. Abdul Rashid Khan and Kammana Sambamurthy. Since the father owned a one-third share in the joint family land, the agreement was enforceable against him to that extent, even though his sons' two-thirds share could not be affected since they were not parties to the agreement. The Court accordingly partly allowed the appeal relating to the buyer's suit (decreeing specific performance for the father's one-third share) and dismissed the connected appeal relating to the sons' separate suit.

Lesson Learnt

If you buy land from someone who turns out to own only a share of it (because it is joint family property), you cannot get the whole property, but you are still entitled to specific performance for that person's own share: the deal is not void just because the seller overstated what he could actually sell.

Official source (sci.gov.in)View Judgment (PDF)

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