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Surinder Pal Soni v. Sohan Lal (D) Thru LRs

Civil Appeal · 2019 INSC 797Decided 23 Jul 2019
Civil Appeal No. 5360 of 2019
Dr. Justice D.Y. Chandrachud · Justice Indira Banerjee

Background

The appellant had obtained a 2012 trial court decree for specific performance of a 2003 land-sale agreement, conditioned on paying the balance sale price within two months and the seller's heirs executing the sale deed. Both sides appealed, and while the first appeal was pending, the appellant sought execution of the decree; the seller's heirs objected. The first appellate court dismissed both appeals and confirmed the trial court's decree in January 2015, and the appellant deposited the balance sale consideration about a month later. The Punjab and Haryana High Court, however, allowed the seller's heirs' revision petition, holding the decree had become inexecutable because the balance wasn't paid within the original two-month window set by the trial court, and ordered a refund of earnest money instead of specific performance.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court held that once the first appellate court confirmed the trial court's decree, the trial court's decree merged into the appellate decree under the well-established "doctrine of merger", meaning it was the appellate court's decree, not the original two-month deadline, that governed, and the appellant's deposit barely a month after that confirmation was timely and made in good faith. It further held that under Section 28 of the Specific Relief Act, a court granting a specific-performance decree does not become functus officio and retains the power to extend time for compliance, and the facts here (substantial earlier part-payment, no bad faith, no application for rescission being accepted) favoured the decree-holder. The Court found the High Court had exceeded its limited revisional jurisdiction by effectively substituting the specific-performance decree with a different remedy (refund of earnest money), which is not a power available in a civil revision over execution proceedings. It allowed the appeal, set aside the High Court's judgment, and restored the executing court's order rejecting the judgment-debtor's objections.

Lesson Learnt

When a decree is appealed and confirmed, it is the confirming appellate decree, not the original trial court's timeline, that governs compliance deadlines, and courts exercising supervisory/revisional jurisdiction over execution proceedings cannot rewrite the substance of a decree (e.g., swapping specific performance for a refund) under the guise of enforcing procedural deadlines.

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

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