Specific Relief Act (SRA)
Contracts Not Specifically Enforceable: Section 14
If Section 10 is the door through which specific performance enters, Section 14 lists the contracts that must be left outside. After the 2018 Amendment the list is short and precise: four categories of contract cannot be specifically enforced, whatever else may be said in their favour. The amendment did more than trim the list; it removed the old adequacy-of-damages filter and, by dropping the three-year supervision bar, opened the way for construction and development contracts to be enforced. This note explains the four surviving categories, what was deleted, and why the change matters.
Figure: Section 14 after 2018: the four categories of contract that cannot be specifically enforced, and what the amendment deleted
1. The Four Categories: Section 14 After 2018
A contract cannot be specifically enforced where ▪ (a) Substituted performance has been obtained. The aggrieved party has already obtained substituted performance of the contract under Section 20. Having arranged performance elsewhere and claimed its cost, he cannot also demand the original performance. ▪ (b) It involves a continuous duty the court cannot supervise. The performance calls for a continuous duty which the court cannot supervise, for example a long-running management or maintenance obligation needing constant oversight. ▪ (c) It is dependent on personal qualifications. The contract is so dependent on the personal qualifications of a party that the court cannot enforce its material terms, for example a contract to paint, to sing, or to render personal service. ▪ (d) It is determinable in its nature. The contract is one that either party may lawfully bring to an end, for example a contract terminable at will, an ordinary agency, or a dealership with a termination clause. |
2. The Categories Explained
Continuous duty the court cannot supervise
A court decrees performance and then leaves the parties to it; it does not stand over them week by week. Where a contract would require the court to watch and direct performance over a long period, it cannot enforce it. The test is the need for continuous supervision, not the mere length of the contract.
Dependent on personal qualifications
Some promises are inseparable from the person who made them. The law will not compel an artist to create, or a person to serve, because forced performance of a personal skill would be worthless and would come close to compelling labour. The bar applies where the personal quality of a party is a material ingredient of the bargain.
Determinable in its nature
Indian Oil Corporation Ltd v Amritsar Gas Service (1991) 1 SCC 533 A distributorship agreement was terminable by either party on notice. The Supreme Court held that a contract which is in its nature determinable cannot be specifically enforced. Because the grantor could lawfully bring the contract to an end, the court would not compel its continuance; the remedy lay in compensation for the notice period, not in specific performance. |
3. What the 2018 Amendment Changed
Point | Before 2018 | After 2018 |
|---|---|---|
Adequacy of damages | A contract was not enforceable where compensation in money was an adequate relief | That filter is gone; read with the new Section 10, adequacy is no longer a bar |
Continuous duty | Not enforceable if the duty could not be supervised for more than three years | The three-year limb removed; the test is simply whether the court can supervise |
Construction contracts | Often refused as needing supervision or as undefined | Enforceable where the work is defined, compliance can be determined, and the defendant has possession or control of the site |
Substituted performance | Not a listed category | Now a bar: once substituted performance is obtained under s. 20, performance cannot be claimed |
4. Section 14 and Section 42 Distinguished
- Section 14 bars the specific enforcement of certain contracts.
- Section 42 preserves one narrow power in personal-service and similar contracts: even where performance of an affirmative part cannot be ordered, the court may enforce a negative covenant by injunction, if the negative agreement is valid and severable. The bar on compelling the positive act does not always bar restraining the breach of a negative promise.
5. Frequently Asked Questions
Q. Which contracts cannot be specifically enforced after 2018?
A. Four: where substituted performance has been obtained; where performance involves a continuous duty the court cannot supervise; where the contract is dependent on the personal qualifications of a party; and where the contract is determinable in its nature.
Q. Can a construction contract now be specifically enforced?
A. Yes, in a way it often could not before. With the three-year supervision limb removed, a building or development contract can be enforced where the work is precisely defined, the court can determine compliance, and the defendant has possession or control of the site.
Q. Why can a determinable contract not be enforced?
A. Because either party may lawfully bring it to an end; the court will not compel the continuance of something one side could at once terminate, as Indian Oil Corporation v Amritsar Gas Service holds.
Q. Does Section 14 stop the court restraining a breach?
A. Not always. Section 42 allows the court, in a personal-service contract with a valid severable negative covenant, to enforce that negative promise by injunction even though it cannot compel the positive performance.
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