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M/s Siddamsetty Infra Projects Pvt. Ltd. vs Katta Sujatha Reddy & Ors.

Not available · 2024 INSC 861Decided 8 Nov 2024
Not available
Chief Justice Dr. D.Y. Chandrachud · Justice J.B. Pardiwala · Justice Manoj Misra

Background

In 1997, the petitioner company agreed to buy roughly 38 acres of land from certain vendors, paying part of the consideration. The sale never fully went through, and a suit for specific performance followed. The Telangana High Court partly decreed the suit, ordering registration of the land proportionate to the money the petitioner had actually paid (90% of the sale price). In August 2022, a three-judge Bench of the Supreme Court overturned that High Court order, holding the petitioner had breached an essential contract condition and filed the suit too late (barred by limitation and delay). The petitioner then filed this review petition arguing the 2022 judgment contained an "error apparent on the face of the record."

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court, exercising its narrow review jurisdiction, found that the 2022 judgment's reasoning on both limitation and entitlement to specific performance was indeed flawed at its root, meeting the strict threshold required to reopen a final judgment. It also addressed the doctrine of "lis pendens" under Section 52 of the Transfer of Property Act, holding that once a review petition is validly instituted within the limitation period, any sale of the disputed property to a third party afterward remains subject to the outcome of the litigation, even if the petition was initially filed in a defective form. The Court recalled (undid) its own 2022 judgment and restored the Telangana High Court's original order granting proportionate specific performance to the petitioner.

Lesson Learnt

A review petition against a Supreme Court judgment succeeds only in the rare case of an error so fundamental it appears on the face of the record, but once such a petition is properly filed in time, the "pendency" protection against third parties selling off the disputed property kicks in immediately, even if the paperwork was technically defective at first filing.

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

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