Recently, the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India in Vijay Prabhu Vs. S.T. Lajapathie & Ors., observed that while seeking a part performance of the contract under Section 12 (3) of the Specific Relief Act, 1963 (SRA), the plea regarding the remaining part of the contract and all rights to compensation can be made at any stage of litigation, including the appellate stage.

As per Section 12(3) of the SRA, to claim part performance of the contract, the plaintiff either needs to relinquish the claims associated with the unperformed part of the contract or express readiness and willingness to perform the contract by making full payment of the agreed consideration for the contract.

The Hon’ble Supreme Court clarified that relinquishing the claim to further performance can be made at any stage of the litigation and observed as under:

“Thus, the position of law is that relinquishment could be made at any stage of the litigation including the appellate stage. The claim of the plaintiff appellant for grant of benefit under Section 12(3) of the Act was, therefore, rightly not rejected by the High Court on the simple ground that it was not made at the trial stage and had been made for the first time at the appellate stage. In our view the claim can also not be rejected on the short ground that it was not incorporated in the plaint or was not set forth in writing before the Trial Court.”