SUSHILA DEVI AND ANR. versus HARI SINGH AND ORS.

SUSHILA DEVI AND ANR. versus HARI SINGH AND ORS.

Where a contract for lease has not culminated in an executed and registered lease deed, only an agreement to lease subsists to which Section 56 of the Contract Act applies; if supervening events render the object of such agreement unattainable so as to strike at the root of the contract, performance becomes impossible and the agreement is void.

Parties
Appellants: Sushila Devi and Another; Respondents: Hari Singh and Others
Jurisdiction
India
Judgment Date
05 May 1971
Procedural Posture
Civil Appeal / Supreme Court Appeal by Special Leave From a Judgment and Decree of the Jammu & Kashmir High Court
Outcome
Appeal dismissed
Legal Topics
Frustration of Contract, Agreement to Lease, Section 56 of the Contract Act, 1872
Contract Law Frustration of Contract Agreement to Lease Section 56 of the Contract Act, 1872

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Parties

Sushila Devi and Another

Appellants

Hari Singh and Others

Respondents

Procedural Posture

Civil Appeal / Supreme Court Appeal by Special Leave From a Judgment and Decree of the Jammu & Kashmir High Court

Legal Issues

  1. 1 Whether Section 56 of the Contract Act applies to leases or only to agreements to lease
  2. 2 Whether the agreement to lease became void due to supervening impossibility after partition

Ratio Decidendi

Where a contract for lease has not culminated in an executed and registered lease deed, only an agreement to lease subsists to which Section 56 of the Contract Act applies; if supervening events render the object of such agreement unattainable so as to strike at the root of the contract, performance becomes impossible and the agreement is void.

Court Disposition

Appeal dismissed

Orders

  • Appeal is dismissed; parties to bear their own costs in this appeal