Learned senior counsel further submitted that the
respondents terminated the contract on 15.12.1977, that is,
within two month. The question of waiver of a condition would
not at all arise so as to revive the contractual obligations into
existence and thereby claim his contractual rights under the
contract so revived. It is settled position of law that once a
contract has been terminated, either on the breach of the
terms of the contract by one party and subsequent repudiation
by the other or by frustration of the contract due to
circumstances beyond the control of either of the parties, the
contract legally comes to an end between the parties. Then
there is no question of any contract/agreement subsisting
between the parties, what follows is only the legal
consequences which may have been contemplated in the terms
of the contract e.g. liquidated damages, etc. However, the
parties are at liberty to mutually novate the contract by
bringing into existence a new contract altogether which would
replace the old contract between the parties and the terms of
the new contract take the place of the old contractual terms.
It will not only be illogical but also absurd to contend that
once the contract has been terminated by a party, it will still
subsist in the background and either of the parties may be
able to waive a condition attached to that contract so as to
revive that contract from a period of slumber. This will in fact
amount to saying that even though a contract has been
terminated by putting it to an end but it is actually still
available, at the option of one of the parties, to be revived back
to its original form and content through unilateral waiver of a
contractual condition. In order to substantiate this claim,
learned senior counsel placed reliance on K. Narendra vs.
Riviera Apartments (P) Ltd. (1999) 5 SCC 77 which held as
under:-
“36….. We are clearly of the opinion that at one point of time
the contract had stood frustrated by reference to Section 56
of the Contract Act. We do not think that the subsequent
events can be pressed into service for so reviving the
contract as to decree its specific performance”.
REPORTABLE
IN THE SUPREME COURT OF INDIA
CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION
CIVIL APPEAL NO. 1148 OF 2010
Nandkishore Lalbhai Mehta .... Appellant(s)
Versus
New Era Fabrics Pvt. Ltd. & Ors. .... Respondent(s)
WITH
CIVIL APPEAL NOs. 1131-1132 OF 2010
Citation;(2015) 9 SCC 755
Print Page
respondents terminated the contract on 15.12.1977, that is,
within two month. The question of waiver of a condition would
not at all arise so as to revive the contractual obligations into
existence and thereby claim his contractual rights under the
contract so revived. It is settled position of law that once a
contract has been terminated, either on the breach of the
terms of the contract by one party and subsequent repudiation
by the other or by frustration of the contract due to
circumstances beyond the control of either of the parties, the
contract legally comes to an end between the parties. Then
there is no question of any contract/agreement subsisting
between the parties, what follows is only the legal
consequences which may have been contemplated in the terms
of the contract e.g. liquidated damages, etc. However, the
parties are at liberty to mutually novate the contract by
bringing into existence a new contract altogether which would
replace the old contract between the parties and the terms of
the new contract take the place of the old contractual terms.
It will not only be illogical but also absurd to contend that
once the contract has been terminated by a party, it will still
subsist in the background and either of the parties may be
able to waive a condition attached to that contract so as to
revive that contract from a period of slumber. This will in fact
amount to saying that even though a contract has been
terminated by putting it to an end but it is actually still
available, at the option of one of the parties, to be revived back
to its original form and content through unilateral waiver of a
contractual condition. In order to substantiate this claim,
learned senior counsel placed reliance on K. Narendra vs.
Riviera Apartments (P) Ltd. (1999) 5 SCC 77 which held as
under:-
“36….. We are clearly of the opinion that at one point of time
the contract had stood frustrated by reference to Section 56
of the Contract Act. We do not think that the subsequent
events can be pressed into service for so reviving the
contract as to decree its specific performance”.
REPORTABLE
IN THE SUPREME COURT OF INDIA
CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION
CIVIL APPEAL NO. 1148 OF 2010
Nandkishore Lalbhai Mehta .... Appellant(s)
Versus
New Era Fabrics Pvt. Ltd. & Ors. .... Respondent(s)
WITH
CIVIL APPEAL NOs. 1131-1132 OF 2010
Citation;(2015) 9 SCC 755
