Self-Serving statements on Income without any proof of financial resources won’t suffice to prove Readiness and Willingness in Suit for Specific Performance

The Supreme Court had observed that self-serving statements on income without any proof of financial resources is not sufficient to prove that plaintiff in a suit for specific performance was ready and willing to perform her part of the contract.

The said ruling was held in the case of Ritu Saxena vs J.S. Grover & Anr (Civil Appeal Nos. 7268-7269 of 2019) decided on 17.09.2019.

Challenge:

Plaintiff in order to prove his readiness and willingness, produced the copy of approval of loan by a bank. Apart from this, a statement that plaintiff and his spouse have income of Rs. 80 lakhs per annum and this was not supported by any documentary evidence. The question was whether the above contentions are sufficient to prove readiness and willingness in a suit for specific performance of agreement to sale or not.

Held:

The suit was filed before the learned Trial Court and was dismissed. The Trial Court held that though the Agreement to Sell was executed but plaintiff has failed to prove her readiness and willingness to perform her part of the contract. The first appeal was dismissed by the High Court saying that self-serving averments in the affidavit of the plaintiff and her husband cannot be taken as discharge of onus of proof of having financial capacity.

The Supreme Court while considering the plaintiff’s appeal against concurrent findings of the High Court and the Trial Court, the bench observed that “such statement will be in the nature of ipsi dixit (unproven statements) of the appellant and/or her husband and is without any corroborating evidence. Such self- serving statements without any proof of financial resources cannot be relied upon to return a finding that the appellant was ready and willing to perform her part of the contract. The appellant has not produced any income tax record or the bank statement in support of her plea of financial capacity so as to be ready and willing to perform the contract. Thus, the appeal is dismissed and appellant is only liable to recover the advance amount with interest from the date of agreement till recovery.