Summary
The vendor’s right to repurchase under a conditional sale deed was assignable because the deed did not make it personal or prohibit transfer. Assignment by registered gift deed to his daughter-in-law entitled her to enforce reconveyance on the attached conditions. The Court upheld the decree for specific performance and dismissed the purchaser’s appeal without costs.
Issues
- Whether the vendor’s repurchase option was personal or could be assigned without an express clause permitting assignment.
- Whether the obligation to pay the repurchase price prevented assignment of that right by gift.
Provisions considered
- Section 15(b), Specific Relief Act, 1963The representative-in-interest principle supported enforcement by an assignee where the contractual benefit was not personal and assignment was not prohibited. (¶¶ 15, 16, 17, 18, 20, 21, 22)
Held
- A contractual repurchase benefit is ordinarily assignable unless the document and relevant evidence establish that it is personal or restricted against transfer. Absence of an express permission to assign does not itself create a prohibition. The burden lies on the party asserting the personal restriction to establish it. (¶¶ 15, 16, 17, 18, 21)
- Assignment of contractual rights differs from transfer of obligations: obligations ordinarily require the other party’s consent, while a non-personal benefit may be assigned where the identity of the recipient makes no difference to the obligor’s performance. (¶¶ 20, 21)
- The conditional sale deed contained no bar on assignment of the repurchase option. The registered gift deed passed that right to the vendor’s daughter-in-law together with its existing conditions. Her obligation to pay the repurchase price did not prevent the vendor from gifting the benefit; he had also joined her as an original plaintiff. (¶¶ 11, 12, 22, 23)
- No error was established in the High Court’s decree. The purchaser’s appeal was dismissed without an order as to costs. (¶ 24)
Result
Appeal dismissed; High Court decree for specific performance upheld. No order as to costs.