Critique of the Specific Relief (Amendment) Act, 2018

Over at Obiter Dicta, the respected Dr. Nilima Bhadbhade, one of the foremost experts in India on Contract and Specific Relief law, has penned a comprehensive critique on the Specific Relief (Amendment) Act, 2018. The post by Dr. Bhadbhade primarily argues that the amendment was a case of hurried legislation and was a comprehensive deviation from the Expert Committee Report. The post notes that the Ministry of Law & Justice did not publish the report but the same was made available through the RTI Act. This was probably a reference to our post making the Report public pursuant to an RTI application by us.

We had several posts in this blog (here, here, here and here) and elsewhere critiquing one particular aspect: the way in which the amendment affected the balance maintained by contract law between the interests of the victim of the breach and the perpetrator of breach. The post by Dr. Bhadbhade confirms the validity of the criticisms made, and coming from a person with immense expertise and who was a part of the Expert Committee, the Government should take it seriously to explore the option of amending the amendment to ensure that legitimate criticisms of the Act are addressed.