2018 amendment to Specific Relief Act bolsters India's image as investment hub: Justice Surya Kant

Supreme Court judge Justice Surya Kant lauded the amendments made to the Specific Relief Act in 2018 and said that the changes to the law have bolstered India's image as an investment hub.

Justice Kant was delivering the keynote address at the launch of Sarkar Specific Relief Act published by Lexis Nexis.

The event was also attended by Supreme Court judge Justice KV Viswanathan, former Chief Justice of Madras High Court Sanjib Banerjee, Advocate on Record Siddharth Sethi and the author Sudipto Sarkar.

Justice Kant stated that the 2018 amendment brought about a paradigm shift in the Specific Relief Act.

"This amendment bolsters India's image as an investment hub. Contracts related to infrastructure development demanded a legal regime which prioritised timely execution which the amendment addresses," Justice Kant said.

Justice Viswanathan opined that the Specific Relief Act had to keep pace with time.

"One was whether title on adverse possession could lie on the plea of an plaintiff. It was held adverse possession is at best shield and not sword but that is no longer valid now," he said.

Advocate Siddharth Sethi stated that the 2018 amendment showed evolving nature of Indian jurisprudence and the need for legal framework to adapt to contemporary realities.

Sarkar pointed out that Section 14A of the amended Specific Relief Act gives power to the Court to engage expert ‘in any suit under the Specific Relief Act’.

"Specific Relief Act is a law relating to reliefs available to a party; and there is no concept of a suit under the Specific Relief Act. Section 14A has introduced the concept of a judge playing an inquisitorial role – which is not the approach followed in common law (being adversarial). Practitioners have to therefore decide how they look at Section 14A – whether it is an island in a common law country – and whether suits under specific relief act are a special category," he said.

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