Breach of Contract and Remedies Under Indian Law: A Critical Evaluation

Breach of Contract, Indian Contract Act 1872, Specific Relief Act 1963, Anticipatory Breach, Damages, Remoteness, Specific Performance, Liquidated Damages, Injunction, Restitution

Through doctrinal and analytical study of breach of contract and the remedies for breach of a contract provided in the Indian law with primary reference to Indian Contract Act, 1872 (hereinafter “the Act”), the research paper is an attempt.  The article critically evaluates the legal framework of breach, describes its component typologies – actual, anticipatory and fundamental – and systematically analyzes the remedial architecture under sections 73 to 75 of the Act and the Specific Relief Act, 1963 (amended 2018).  Using landmark Supreme Court and High Court jurisprudence including Hadley v. Baxendale (adopted by Indian Courts), State of Kerala v. United Shippers & Dredgers Ltd., Murlidhar Chiranjilal v. Harishchandra Dwarkadas, and Karsandas H. Thacker v. The Saran Engineering Co. The paper examines several issues concerning the legal response to breach of contract including adequacy of the compensatory regime and limited scope of specific performance.  The Act has a broad structure but there are several gaps in the Act regarding anticipatory breach, loss of a non-pecuniary nature and the incongruity in the application of remoteness by the courts that calls for legislative fixing.