Mehboob-Ur-Rehman (Dead) Through Lrs. vs Ahsanul Ghani

2. Briefly put, the relevant background aspects of the matter are that on 13.08.1979, the plaintiff-appellant filed the suit aforesaid with the averments that the defendant-respondent had executed an agreement dated 16/17.04.1975 in his favour for sale of the property in question, being House Number 102 at Faithful Ganj, Kanpur Nagar, for a consideration of Rs. 30,000/-; and that a sum of Rs. 15,000/- was paid as earnest money while the remaining amount was payable at the time of execution and registration of the sale deed. The plaintiff- appellant further averred that after the agreement, the Urban Land (Ceiling and Regulation) Act, 1976 came to be promulgated prohibiting transfer of the property without permission of the Competent Authority; and the defendant-respondent was required to obtain such permission but failed to do so despite requests. The plaintiff-appellant yet further averred that on 06.05.1979, he served a notice on the defendant-respondent for obtaining permission from the Ceiling Authorities and for execution of the sale deed to which, the defendant-respondent sent a reply dated 06.07.1979 stating ignorance about the agreement and sought a copy thereof for proper reply while alleging that his signatures were obtained on some papers in relation to a suit filed by the State Bank of India. The plaintiff- appellant stated that these were the false pretexts taken by the defendant who 3 was bound to execute the sale deed for the house in question after seeking necessary permission; and for him having failed to do so, the suit was being filed for enforcing specific performance of the agreement.

3. The defendant-respondent, while denying the plaint averments, inter alia, alleged that he was involved as a guarantor in relation to the loan taken by a firm M/s Adam Textiles from the State Bank of India and his house in question was hypothecated to the said bank; and when the bank threatened to take action against him, the plaintiff, who was known to him, assured of contesting the matter on his behalf and persuaded him to hand over possession of the house in question on rental basis. The defendant alleged that he got deceived on persuasion of the plaintiff and, for the purpose of conducting the trial of the suit filed by the bank, his signatures were obtained on blank papers on which, some document was fabricated; and that the copy of the alleged agreement was never supplied to him despite demand. The defendant also took the objections regarding limitation, valuation and court fees.

7. As per the law applicable at the relevant point of time, the said first appeal was filed in the High Court and the plaintiff, while appearing in the said appeal as respondent, moved an application seeking leave to amend the plaint whereupon, 5 the High Court passed the order dated 29.07.1982 that the application for amendment would be decided at the time of final hearing of the appeal. Later on, in view of alteration of jurisdiction, the appeal was transmitted by the High Court to the District Court and was ultimately assigned to the IX Additional District Judge, Kanpur Nagar as Appeal No. 54 of 1982. On 28.02.1995, the First Appellate Court rejected the plaintiff's application seeking leave to amend the plaint and thereafter, allowed the appeal on 25.04.1995 while holding that the plaintiff had failed to take the necessary averments in the plaint on his readiness and willingness to perform his part of the contract.