Hussain Ahmed Choudhury vs Habibur Rahman (D) 2025 INSC 553 - Ss. 31,34 Specific Relief Act - Declaration of Title
Suit for declaration of title -The declaration of title is as good as a relief of cancellation of the sale deed or at least, a declaration that the sale deed is not binding on the plaintiff being void and thus non est. (Para 36)
Specific Relief Act 1963 - Section 31 and 34 -Where the executant of a deed wants it to be annulled, he has to seek cancellation of the deed under Section 31 of the Act, 1963. But if a non-executant seeks annulment of a deed, he has to only seek a declaration that the deed is invalid, or non est, or illegal or that it is not binding on him. The difference between a prayer for cancellation and declaration in regard to a deed of transfer/conveyance, can be brought out by the following illustration relating to ‘A’ and ‘B’ ─ two brothers. ‘A’ executes a sale deed in favour of ‘C’. Subsequently ‘A’ wants to avoid the sale. ‘A’ has to sue for cancellation of the deed. On the other hand, if ‘B’, who is not the executant of the deed, wants to avoid it, he has to sue for a declaration that the deed executed by ‘A’ is invalid/void and non est/ illegal and he is not bound by it. In essence, both may be suing to have the deed set aside or declared as non-binding. (Para 29)
Reliefs - Plaint must be read as a whole and the actual relief sought can also be culled out from the averments of the plaint. Those reliefs can be granted, if there is evidence and circumstances justifying the grant of such relief, though not directly or specifically claimed, or asked as a relief. (Para 37)
Specific Relief Act 1963 - Section 34 - Section 34 entitles a person to approach the appropriate court for a declaration, if that person is entitled to (i) any legal character or (ii) any right as to any property. “Legal character” and “right to property” are used disjunctively so that either of them, exclusively, may be the basis of a suit. The disjunctive ‘or’ cannot be read as a conjunctive ‘and’ (Para 26)- Courts have ample inherent powers and indeed it is their duty to shape their declaration in such a way that they may operate to afford the relief which the justice of the case requires. Section 34 of the Act, 1963 is not exhaustive of the cases in which a declaratory decree may be made and the courts have power to grant such a decree independently of the requirements of the Section. Section 34 merely gives statutory recognition to a well-recognised type of declaratory relief and subjects it to a limitation, but it cannot be deemed to exhaust every kind of declaratory relief or to circumscribe the jurisdiction of courts to give declarations of right in appropriate cases falling outside Section 34. The circumstances in which a declaratory decree under Section 34 should be awarded is a matter of discretion depending upon the facts of each case. (para 38) Section 34 proviso - All that the proviso forbids is a suit for pure declaration without necessary relief where the plaintiff being able to seek such a relief, has omitted to do so. The proviso must not be construed in a manner which compels the plaintiff to sue for any and all the reliefs which could possibly be granted to him. The plaintiff must not be debarred from obtaining a relief that he wants for the reason that he has failed to seek a relief which is not directly flowing from the relief of declaration already sought for.(Para 28)
Specific Relief Act 1963 - Section 31 -As Section 31 of the Act, 1963 uses the word “may”, it is not a mandate, even as regards the parties to the instrument or the persons claiming through or under them, to seek for the cancellation of an instrument which is otherwise void and therefore, it cannot be contended that a stranger to that instrument must necessarily seek for its cancellation. By no stretch of imagination can this be construed to mean that when there exists an instrument with respect to the same property but executed by some other person, the plaintiff despite being a stranger to that instrument would fall under the scope of “any person” in Section 31 of the Act, 1963. (Para 24)
