Under Specific Relief Act, 1963 (Hereinafter referred to as the SRA)- a suit can be filed for the

following reliefs-

1. Perpetual Injunction- This relief is provided for under chapter VIII (and more
specifically, section 38) of the SRA. Generally speaking, it is a permanent injunction, in
contrast to the interim order of injunction you apply to the court for. Therefore, this is not
an interlocutory order but a final decree at the end of a suit.

2. Declaratory Relief- This falls under chapter VI (section 34, more specifically) of the
SRA. These suits are regarding deciding the ownership of the title of a certain property.
Therefore, if there is a denial or claim of ownership of any property, the courts could be
approached to decide over who has the real title. Declaration of title also plays a role in
other proceedings such as eviction suits. This will be discussed in more detail further.

3. Damages- Further, we can ask for damages from the court for a loss suffered by us
because of the acts of another party. It is worth to note over here that damages are
different from just damage. ‘Damages’, in this regard, means the compensation for loss
incurred by a party. Damage will be the physical act of destroying or harming a certain
property. This can be well elucidated upon by the example – if you ‘damage’ someone
else’s property, you will have to pay the ‘damages’ for the same.

Foreseeability
Under contract law, the damages must be foreseeable in nature. Thus a party who
breached a contract is liable to pay to the extent of the damage which he could foresee
would occur from his breach. An important case which can be discussed here is that of
Hadley v. Baxendale.1
In the above case, the claimant’s (Hadley) mill shaft broker rendering the mill inoperable.
He asked Baxendale to deliver the mill to the engineer (to make a duplicate) but he failed
to do so. Baxendale did not know that his delay will result in the shutting down of the
mill and lead to the claimant suffering losses. The court did not award the damages asked
for because, in its opinion, the consequential damages which arise because of a breach
must be reasonably foreseeable by the breaching party in order for them.

So under the law of equity which governs the rights of the parties in the case of specific
performance of contract the law focuses on the substance of the agreement and not the
letter of the law. Basically it will focus on what the agreement states and what are the
conditions that the parties agreed to. In this case the judges will focus on whether under
the terms of the contract the parties named a specific time within which completion was

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 to take place. It is important to clearly express in clear and plain language that the time is
of essence.

Further, damages under contracts could be liquidated or unliquidated.

Liquidated damages- They are damages which have been pre-decided as a part of the
contract. Therefore provisions such as X party will have to pay Y amount of money for a
particular breach in a contract will fall under this. Under torts the damages, however,
cannot be liquidated.

Unliquidated damages- Unliquidated damages are therefore those which have not been
decided upon. Therefore incidental damages such as mental trauma or loss of reputation,
etc could fall under this.

Further, damages under contract law are of the following types-

Nominal Damages- These are not to compensate for an actual loss necessarily. There are
just nominal in nature to show that one of the parties committed a wrongful act. They are
of menial amount generally, but hold a significant value as they are legal recognition that
one of the parties was right.

Compensatory damages- They are given to compensate the plaintiff for the loss
incurred by him in order to bring him back to the position he was at before the breach.
They are to replace the loss suffered by the plaintiff.

Punitive damages- These, in contrast to compensatory damages, are offered in order to

punish the wrongdoer for his wrongful act and to deter him from future wrongful acts
rather than to compensate the other party. These are also generally called exemplary
damages. The only difference between the two is that punitive damages are generally
awarded during contract suits and exemplary damages are generally during torts,
especially mass torts.

4. Specific Performance- Section 10 of Specific Relief act states:

10. Cases in which specific performance of contract enforceable

Except as otherwise provided in this Chapter, the specific performance of any contract
may, in the discretion of the court, be enforced-
 (a) when there exists no standard for ascertaining actual damage caused by the non-
performance of the act agreed to be done; or

(b) when the act agreed to be done is such that compensation in money for its non-
performance would not afford adequate relief.

Explanation: Unless and until the contrary is proved, the court shall presume-

(i) that the breach of a contract to transfer immovable property cannot be adequately
relieved by compensation in money; and

(ii) that the breach of a contract to transfer movable property can be so relieved
except in the following cases:

(a) where the property is not an ordinary article of commerce, or is of special value or
interest to the plaintiff, or consists of goods which are not easily obtainable in the
market;

(b) where the property is held by the defendant as the agent or trustee of the plaintiff.

Basically this section means that in a breach of contract case, the court may consider ordering a
party specific performance if the other (innocent party) asks for such remedy. The court will not
order for specific performance unless the party pleads for such an order to be passed.
This remedy orders the party who has breached the contract to comply with the terms and
conditions of the contract. This means that the breaching party will be required to show that it is
willing to do whatever it was originally supposed to do.

The court will only consider this option or remedy if the damage done due to the breach cannot
be compensated by giving money or any other thing. Mostly specific performance is ordered in
sales contracts. This remedy is also used when the contract is of sale of a priceless art piece etc.

Specific performance in case of declaratory suits. This is another matter which comes under
specific performance. Sometimes it may happen that a situation arises where a person who is
entitled to some status or character or has a right in some property but he is denied the right of
enjoying his or her property or status. Under Chapter VI of the Specific Relief Act, he is allowed
to proceed against any person who is denying or is interested in denying him his right but the
court can allow such specific performance or relief only when the plaintiff cannot seek any other
relief.
There are other miscellaneous reliefs one can approach the court for-

Rescission of contract- This is basically to ask for backing out from the contract and asking for
compensation. Thus, if the other party to a contract does a wrong, one can approach the court in
order ask it to relieve him/her from the contract and also for compensation.

The compensation here should be Quantum Meruit. This means that it should be there to restore
the plaintiff back to the position he was at before the breach or the wrong occurred. It must be
thus reasonable according what the party actually deserved.

Recovery- Recovery of a certain thing could also be a relief. For example, the relief asked for
could recovery of possession in the case of an eviction suit.

Here, the reliefs asked for must be two folds- 1) you will ask for a declaration of title asking the
court to announce that the ownership in fact lied with you. 2) You will ask for recovery of
possession by asking the court to evict the tenant of the property.