The Nature of Specific Relief — KSLU Contract 1 Notes

The Nature of Specific Relief

Damages (S.73, Contract Act) are the general remedy; specific relief is the extraordinary, equitable remedy that gives the aggrieved party the very thing he contracted for, under the Specific Relief Act, 1963. Its forms: (1) recovery of possession, (2) specific performance, (3) rectification, (4) rescission, (5) cancellation of instruments, (6) declaratory decrees, and (7) preventive relief (injunctions).

Discretionary? Classically, specific performance was a matter of judicial discretion (old S.20) — refused where damages were adequate, the contract unfair, or enforcement caused hardship. The Specific Relief (Amendment) Act, 2018 changed this: specific performance is no longer purely discretionary but a general rule (substituted S.10 — “shall be enforced”), with S.20 replaced by substituted performance. For the exam, state the classical discretionary position (which the PYQs test) and note the 2018 shift.