Specific Relief Act (SRA)
The Specific Relief Act, 1963: Introduction, Object and Scope
A person breaks his promise to sell you a house. The ordinary law of contract offers you damages, a sum of money to compensate for the loss. But money is a poor substitute for the one house you wanted. What you really want is the house itself. The Specific Relief Act, 1963 is the law that lets a court order that: it gives the party the very thing he is entitled to, rather than money in its place. This note introduces the Act, its object, and the scope of the reliefs it provides.
Figure: The Act at a glance: its key facts, the seven reliefs, the two halves of the scheme, and the 2018 shift
1. The Act in Outline
Aspect | The position |
|---|---|
Title and number | The Specific Relief Act, 1963 (Act 47 of 1963) |
Preamble | 'An Act to define and amend the law relating to certain kinds of specific relief' |
Assented | 13 December 1963 |
Commencement | 1 March 1964 |
Extent | The whole of India |
Replaced | The Specific Relief Act, 1877 |
Based on | The 9th Report of the Law Commission of India, 1958 |
Amended | By the Specific Relief (Amendment) Act, 2018, in force from 1 October 2018 |
2. What Is 'Specific Relief'?
The idea ▪ Specific relief is relief in specie: the court gives the plaintiff the exact thing to which he is entitled, or restrains the exact wrong that threatens him, instead of awarding money as compensation. ▪ Two broad kinds. Specific relief proper, which is positive (recovering property, compelling performance, correcting or setting aside a document, or declaring a right), and preventive relief, which is negative (restraining a wrong by injunction). ▪ When it is given. Chiefly where compensation in money is not an adequate remedy for the loss, or where the wrong is a continuing or threatened one that an injunction can stop. |
3. The Object of the Act
Why the Act exists ▪ To define and amend the law relating to certain kinds of specific relief, gathering the scattered rules of equity into a code. ▪ To give real, not merely monetary, redress where damages would not truly compensate the wronged party. ▪ To enforce individual civil rights, not penal laws. Section 4 confines the Act to civil rights; it is not a tool for punishing wrongs. ▪ To supply remedies, not to create rights. The Act is remedial: the rights it protects arise under other laws, such as the Contract Act and the Transfer of Property Act. ▪ To leave room for discretion, guided by settled equitable principles, so that relief is fair in the circumstances of each case. |
4. The Preliminary Provisions: Sections 1 to 4
Section | What it provides |
|---|---|
s. 1 | Short title, extent and commencement: the Act extends to the whole of India and came into force on 1 March 1964 |
s. 2 | Definitions: 'obligation' includes every duty enforceable by law; and 'settlement', 'trust' and 'trustee' are defined; words not defined carry their Contract Act meaning |
s. 3 | Savings: except as otherwise provided, the Act does not deprive a person of any relief, other than specific performance, that he may have under a contract; nor does it affect the Registration Act, 1908 |
s. 4 | Specific relief is to be granted only for enforcing individual CIVIL rights, and not for the mere purpose of enforcing a PENAL law |
5. The Scope of the Reliefs
Relief | Sections | In brief |
|---|---|---|
Recovering possession of property | 5 to 8 | Restoring immovable or movable property to the person entitled |
Specific performance of contracts | 9 to 25 | Compelling a party to perform the contract itself |
Rectification of instruments | 26 | Correcting a document that, by mistake, does not express the real intention |
Rescission of contracts | 27 to 30 | Setting a contract aside and restoring the parties to their former position |
Cancellation of instruments | 31 to 33 | Declaring a written instrument void and ordering it delivered up and cancelled |
Declaratory decrees | 34 to 35 | Declaring a person's legal character or right to property |
Preventive relief (injunctions) | 36 to 42 | Restraining a party from doing a wrongful act, temporarily or perpetually |
6. The Nature of the Act
i. Remedial, not substantive. The Act does not create rights; it provides the machinery for enforcing rights that exist under the general law.
ii. Rooted in equity. Its reliefs descend from the English courts of equity, which gave specific performance and injunctions where the common law gave only damages.
iii. Largely discretionary, historically. Many reliefs rested on the court's discretion, exercised on settled principles. The 2018 amendment changed this for specific performance, which is now a general remedy.
iv. Read with other statutes. It works with the Contract Act, 1872, the Transfer of Property Act, 1882, the Limitation Act, 1963, and the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908.
7. Frequently Asked Questions
Q. What is the Specific Relief Act, 1963?
A. It is the Act that defines and amends the law on certain kinds of specific relief, allowing a court to give a party the very thing he is entitled to, or to restrain a wrong, rather than award damages.
Q. When did the Specific Relief Act, 1963 come into force?
A. On 1 March 1964. It replaced the Specific Relief Act, 1877, and was based on the 9th Report of the Law Commission of India.
Q. Is the Specific Relief Act a substantive or a remedial law?
A. It is a remedial law: it supplies remedies for rights that exist under other statutes, and does not itself create rights.
Q. Can specific relief be granted to enforce a penal law?
A. No. Section 4 provides that specific relief is granted only for enforcing individual civil rights, not for the mere purpose of enforcing a penal law.
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