In Brief
Mohinder Kaur agreed to sell agricultural land to Bahadur Singh in 1964 for Rs. 5,605, of which only Rs. 1,000 was paid upfront. Possession was given with an agreement that Singh would pay customary rent if the pending legal dispute took over a year to resolve. When the dispute was decided in 1977, Singh refused to execute the sale deed. Singh later sued for specific performance but had paid no rent in 13 years. The Supreme Court held that Singh, having failed to perform the essential obligation to pay customary rent, was not entitled to the discretionary remedy of specific performance. The Court ruled that specific performance requires performance of all essential contractual terms; equity weighed against Singh given his long non-payment and substantial benefit from the productive land."
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