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Saketa Vaksana LLP & Anr. v. Kaukutla Sarala & Ors.

Civil Appeal · 2019 INSC 1390Decided 17 Dec 2019
Civil Appeal No. 9483 of 2019
Justice Uday Umesh Lalit · Justice Indu Malhotra · Justice Krishna Murari

Background

A developer and a group of landowners entered into a 2017 agreement for sale of about 54 acres of land in Telangana, with part of the land later transferred through registered sale agreements while a disputed balance of about 17.5 acres (the "suit property") remained unregistered amid a dispute over how much had actually been paid. The developer sued for specific performance and obtained temporary injunctions from the trial court protecting its possession and restraining the landowners from alienating the suit property, but a High Court division bench later vacated the injunction protecting the developer's possession, finding no clear proof of physical possession. The developer then approached the Supreme Court challenging that High Court order.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court held that both central issues, whether possession of the suit property was ever handed over, and how much consideration was actually paid, were seriously disputed questions of fact that could only be resolved at trial, not at the interim injunction stage. Since the developer's interest in the property was already protected by a separate, unchallenged injunction restraining the landowners from creating third-party rights in the suit property, the Court found no reason to interfere with the High Court's order vacating the possession-related injunction. It affirmed the High Court's order, expressly clarified it was expressing no opinion on the merits of the underlying suit, dismissed the appeals, and directed the trial court to expedite and dispose of the suit within one year.

Lesson Learnt

Temporary injunctions are provisional remedies, not merits determinations, where facts like possession or payment are genuinely disputed, courts will often leave them to be decided at trial rather than resolve them at the interim stage, especially if the applicant's core interest is otherwise adequately protected by another standing order.

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

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