LAW FOR ALL

There is no dispute about the fact that the father of the respondent who entered into an agreement on his behalf (and deposed in evidence) carried on moneylending business. The consistent case of the appellants in reply to the legal notice, in the written statement as well as in the course of evidence was that there was a transaction of a loan with the father of the respondent. The evidence of DW2 was to the following effect : “The defendant was having a relationship with plaintiff’s father, Babu Dhanaraj in respect of loan transaction. Already the Defendant No. 2 has taken loan from Babu Dhanapathy Raj and bought a lorry and was driving it. In this case, in order to return the loan of Rs. 1,00,000/- as per the instruction of Babu Dhanapathy Raj only on the basis of trust, the Exhibit P1 agreement to sell was executed. In the said document, I have put my signature as a witness.” During the course of the evidence, the appellants produced material (Exhibit D3) indicating that the value of the property was six lakhs thirty thousand on 20 November 2006. The agreed consideration between the parties was rupees one lakh sixty thousand of which an amount of rupees sixty thousand was paid at the time of the execution of the agreement. The sale transaction was to be completed within three years against the payment of the balance of rupees one lakh. The appellants also relied upon Exhibit D2 which indicated that the value of the property as on 1 April 1999. These aspects were adverted to in the judgment of the trial court and the first appellate court while setting out the evidence, but have evidently not been borne in mind in determining as to whether a decree for specific performance could judiciously have been passed.= In our view the material which has been placed on record indicates that the terms of the contract, the conduct of parties at the time of entering into the agreement and circumstances under which the contract was entered into gave the plaintiff an unfair advantage over the defendants. These circumstances make it inequitable to enforce specific performance.The decree for specific performance shall accordingly stand set aside and shall stand substituted with a direction to the appellants to pay a sum of rupees fifteen lakhs to the respondent in lieu of specific performance.