In Brief
This case involved a dispute over land sale spanning four decades between Firm Rajasthan Udyog and Hindustan Engineering & Industries Ltd. The central issue was whether an arbitration award fixing the land price could be executed as a specific performance suit for the sale deed, after the buyer had withdrawn its original suit for specific performance. The Supreme Court held that since the arbitration was limited only to determining the price, and since the buyer had expressly abandoned its direct claim for execution of the sale deed, it could not indirectly achieve the same through execution of the award. The award was merely declaratory of price and was subject to the buyer's acceptance. The Court allowed the appeal and directed payment of deposited amounts as litigation costs to end the protracted dispute.
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