THE SPECIFIC RELIEF ACT, 1963  FROM EQUITABLE DISCRETION TO ENFORCEABLE RIGHTS.

The law relating to specific relief in India is a unique area of law that straddles the contract law and equity. Unlike other civil remedies, specific relief orders are directed at obliging a party to perform a particular obligation or restrain him, on the other hand, from committing a breach of contract. The relevant legislation, which governs this equity-based remedy, is the Specific Relief Act, 1963 ("the Act"), which substantially replaced the Specific Relief Act, 1877. The Specific Relief (Amendment) Act, 2018, which amended several sections of the 1963 Act, was a watershed in terms of doctrinal change: specific performance, which until now was seen as a discretionary and merely equitable remedy, has transformed into a kind of the enforceable right. This article will discuss this transformation and place it in the context of equity's doctrinal development as well as its impact on the Indian contract law.