TMI Blog2002 (1) TMI 1287X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... an agricultural land in favour of appellant no. 1 for a total consideration of ₹ 9,000/-. Appellant no. 1 paid a sum of ₹ 5,700/- towards earnest money. The appellants in pursuance of the said agreement for sale was put in possession over the said property. After the execution of the said agreement, it came to the notice of the appellant that the transferor is negotiating for sale of the said land in favour of respondent no. 1. Under such circumstances, the appellant brought a suit on 2nd August, 1965 for injunction restraining the transferor from selling the said land in favour of respondent no. 1. On 30th April, 1966 the trial court granted injunction as prayed for. It is the case of the appellants that despite the said injunction order, the transferor sold the said property through a registered sale deed dated 24th May, 1966 in favour of respondent no. 1. After the sale deed was executed, the plaintiff-respondent no. 1 on the strength of the said sale deed brought a suit for recovery of possession of the land. The appellants filed a written statement wherein the suit claim was resisted on the ground that they are in possession of the property in pursuance of agree ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... or bringing a suit for specific performance has expired. It also does not expressly provide that a defendant transferee is not entitled to protect his possession over the suit property taken in part performance of the contract if the period of limitation to bring a suit for specific performance has expired. In absence of such a provision, we have to interpret the provisions of Section 53-A in a scientific manner. It means to look into the legislative history and structure of the provisions of Section 53- A of the Act. Earlier, the assistance of historical facts or any document preceding the legislation was very much frowned upon for purposes of construction of statutes. At that time, there was some injunction against applying principle of looking into the historical facts or reports preceding the legislation in construing a statute. However, by passage of time, this embargo has been lifted. In R.S. Nayak vs. A.R. Antulay - 1984 (2) SCC 183, it was held thus : Report of the Committee which preceded the enactment of a legislation reports of Joint Parliament Committee report of a commission set up for collecting information leading to the enactment are permissible external ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... roperty Act was enacted, Section 53-A did not find place in it. In the absence of Section 53-A, there arose difference of opinion between various courts in India as regards the application of English doctrine of part performance of contract as it was then prevailing in England. Since there was a difference of opinion on question of the application of English equitable doctrine of part performance in various courts of India, the Govt. of India resolved to set up a Special Committee for making recommendations amongst others whether the British equitable doctrine of part performance be extended in India also. The Special Committee was of the view that an illiterate or ignorant buyer who had partly performed his part of contract required statutory protection. The Committee was of the further view that where a transferee in good faith that lawful instrument i.e. a written contract would be executed by the transferor takes possession over the property, the equity demanded that the transferee should not be treated as trespasser by the transferor and subsequently evict him through process of law in the absence of lawful transfer instrument. The Special Committee also considered the questio ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... part of the contract. We are, therefore, of the opinion that if the conditions enumerated above are complied with, the law of limitation does not come in the way of a defendant taking plea under Section 53-A of the Act to protect his possession of the suit property even though a suit for specific performance of a contract has barred by limitation. The matter may be examined from another angle. The established rule of limitation is that law of limitation is not applicable to a plea taken in defence unless expressly a provision is made in the statute. The law of limitation applies to the suits and applications. The various articles of the Limitation Act show that they do not apply to a defence taken by a defendant in a suit. Thus, the law of limitation bars only an action in a court of law. In fact, what the Limitation Act does is, to take away the remedy of a plaintiff to enforce his rights by bringing an action in a court of law, but it does not place any restriction to a defendant to put forward any defence though such defence as a claim made by him may be barred by limitation and cannot be enforced in a court of law. On the said principle, a defendant in a suit can put for ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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