Specific Relief Act, 1963, Sections 10,16 – Maharashtra Land Revenue Code, 1966, Section 36A – Specific performance – Agreement to sell – There is only a restriction on the transfer to be made by a tribal in favour of the non-tribal by way of sale, gift, exchange, mortgage, ease or otherwise – Such a restriction is in the context of requiring the non-tribal to make an application for a previous sanction before such a conveyance could be made by a tribal(defendant/ respondent) in favour of non-tribal(plaintiff/appellant) before the State Government so as to seek previous approval of the State Government – Only after a previous approval of the State Government could such a sale take place – The conveyance by way of sale would take place only at the time of registration of a sale deed in accordance with Section 17of the Registration Act, 2008 – Till then, there is no conveyance – Held that there is no bar for a tribal to enter into an agreement to sell and seeking advance sale consideration – However, before conveying the land by the tribal in favour of a non-tribal, the requisites of Section 36A must be complied with by the non-tribal before the State Government in terms of Section 36A of the Land Revenue Code – That stage has not yet arisen in the instant case, for the reason that the defendant failed to perform his part of the agreement inasmuch as he did not come forward to execute the sale deed – When all the courts have held that the plaintiff has performed his part of the agreement inasmuch as he had tendered a sum of Rs.2,20,000/- out of a total consideration ofRs.2,25,000/- and he was ready and willing to perform the rest of the obligation under the contract, it was only in the context of non-performance by the defendant that the plaintiff was constrained to file the suit for specific performance –On the basis of Section 36A, the trial Court, the first appellate court as well as the High Court could not have declined to grant the decree for specific performance to the plaintiff – Since there was no reason to decline the grant of a decree under the provisions of the said Act, the trial Court, the First Appellate Court as well as the High Court ought to have granted the said decree rather than granting an alternative relief – Judgment of the High Court, First Appellate Court as well as the trial Court modified and the suit filed by the plaintiff decreed by holding that the plaintiff is entitled to the relief specific performance of the agreement to sell dated 31.07.2001 – Appellant-plaintiff shall proceed under Section 36A of the said Section before seeking conveyance of the subject land in his favour in case the defendant is a tribal. (Para 13 to 17)
SUPREME COURT OF INDIA
2024 STPL(Web) 108 SC
[2024 INSC 122]
Babasaheb Dhondiba Kute Vs. Radhu Vithoba Barde
Civil Appeal No. 2458 of 2024 [@ Slp(C) No.29462 of 2019]-Decided on 15-2-2024
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