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2008 Supreme(SC) 1883

R.V.RAVEENDRAN, P.SATHASIVAM
Alka Bose – Appellant
Versus
Parmatma Devi – Respondent


Advocates appeared:
For the Appellant(s) Mr. Ranjan Mukherjee, Advocate. For the Respondent(s) Mr. Shekhar Prit Jha, Advocate.

Judgement Key Points

Based on the provided legal document, here are the key points:

  • The Supreme Court held that an agreement of sale of property signed by the vendor alone and delivered to and accepted by the purchaser, though not signed by the purchaser, is a valid agreement enforceable under Section 10 and Section 25 of the Contract Act, 1872 (!) (!) (!) (!) (!) (!) .
  • The Court clarified that an agreement to sell property is valid even if it is oral, as per Sections 8, 10, and 25 of the Contract Act, 1872 (!) (!) (!) (!) .
  • The specific issue in the appeal was whether an agreement of sale (Ext.2) executed only by the vendor and not by the purchaser is valid (!) .
  • The Court rejected the argument that an agreement of sale is a unilateral contract, stating instead that all agreements of sale are bilateral contracts involving promises by both the vendor and the purchaser (!) (!) (!) (!) .
  • The Court ruled that an agreement of sale comes into existence when the vendor agrees to sell and the purchaser agrees to purchase for an agreed consideration; it can be oral, by exchange of communications, or by a document signed by only the vendor and delivered to the purchaser who accepts it (!) .
  • The Court found that the specific format of the agreement in question, which appeared to require signatures from both parties, was intended to be executed only by the vendor based on the parties' conduct, including the vendor receiving further payments and endorsing acknowledgments on the document (!) (!) .
  • The Court affirmed that the plaintiff satisfied the conditions under Section 16(c) of the Specific Relief Act, 1963, to obtain a decree for specific performance (!) (!) .
  • The appeal filed by the legal heirs of the deceased vendor was dismissed, upholding the judgment and decree of the trial court and the Division Bench of the High Court (!) (!) .

Judgment :

P. Sathasivam, J.

1) Challenge in this appeal is to the order dated 7.9.1999 passed by the Division Bench of the High Court of Patna, Ranchi Bench allowing L.P.A. No.29 of 1993 (R) filed by Smt. Parmatma Devi - first respondent herein.

2) The facts of the case, in a nutshell, are as follows:

By virtue of a written agreement of sale on 7.9.1979, one Kanika Bose (since deceased) had agreed to sell to the first respondent the southern portion of house being Holding No. 786-C, Ward No.1, Mohalla Barmasia under Giridih Municipality for a consideration of Rs.34,500/-. The first respondent paid a sum of Rs.2001/-as earnest money and part payment and a further sum of Rs.2000/-on 10.10.1979 to Kanika Bose on a condition that the sale deed would be executed within three months and balance consideration money would be paid at the time of execution of the sale deed. As Kanika Bose did not execute the sale deed, on 6.12.1979, the first respondent instituted suit being T.S. No. 54 of 1979 for specific performance in the Court of Subordinate Judge, Giridih, Bihar. In the said suit, the defendant - Kanika Bose filed her written statement denying the averments made in the plaint. By judgm
















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Judicial Analysis

None of the provided case law snippets indicate that *Aloka Bose vs. Parmatma Devi* (the primary case cited across the list) has been overruled, reversed, or invalidated.

However, **RAMESH CHANDRA AGRAWAL VS BITTA DEVI @ BITTO - 2015 0 Supreme(All) 1239** contains the following pertinent information: "...Bitta Devi @ Bitti W/o Aedal Singh as sole defendant. ... Bitta Devi @ Bitti) is hereby set aside. The appeal is allowed." While this snippet references *Aloka Bose* as a secondary authority, the underlying matter regarding "Bitta Devi" appears to have been subject to a judicial reversal (set aside). As the context of the reversal relates to the specific appeal mentioned, it is categorized here as "bad law" in the context of that specific litigation.

**Followed / Relied Upon**

The overwhelming majority of the provided snippets utilize *Aloka Bose vs. Parmatma Devi* (2009) 2 SCC 582 as binding precedent. Courts consistently "relied upon" or "followed" the ratio that an agreement of sale does not necessarily require the signature of the vendee to be valid/enforceable.

* **Representative examples include:**

* **Boddu David Satyanandam VS Bussa Chandra Paul - 2010 0 Supreme(AP) 384:** "Further strong reliance was placed on Aloka Bose..."

* **Vasu @ Bhaskaran VS Parukutty Amma - 2012 0 Supreme(Ker) 61:** "...there is no scope any more for anybody to contend that an agreement for sale..."

* **Shikha Misra VS S. Krishnamurthy - 2014 0 Supreme(Del) 1171:** "...laying down that an Agreement to Sell signed by the vendor alone and delivered..."

* **N. Sankaran VS R. Shanmuga Raj - 2021 0 Supreme(Mad) 818:** "...it has been clearly held that an agreement of sale signed only by the vendor is valid..."

**Consistent Application**

These cases cite *Aloka Bose* as the standard-bearer for the principle of contract validity regarding non-signatory parties or oral contracts.

* **L. M. WALTER (SINCE DECEASED) THROUGH LRS. VS ONKAR GIRI (NOW DECEASED) THROUGH LRS. - 2016 0 Supreme(Del) 3480, ISHWAR SINGH DECD. THROUGH LRS. VS SURAJ BHAN - 2016 0 Supreme(Del) 3629, Baljinder Singh VS Jarnail Singh - 2017 0 Supreme(P&H) 101, Devenderjeet Singh Sethi VS Om Prakash Arora - 2019 0 Supreme(Del) 2541:** These represent the standard judicial pattern of invoking the *Aloka Bose* dicta to confirm the validity of contracts.

**Padam Jain, S/o Shri Gyanmal Jain vs Hemrai (Died) Through Legal Heirs - 2025 0 Supreme(Chh) 534:** This case references "Durga Devi and another, 2010(1) CGLJ 355; Haldhar Patel and others Vs." in conjunction with *Aloka Bose*. The treatment is unclear because the snippet lists multiple citations without explicitly clarifying the relationship between the validity of *Aloka Bose* and the other mentioned cases.

**Hemant VS Indirabai - 2018 0 Supreme(Bom) 492 and Hemant S/o Ramchandra Ingole VS Naresh S/o Trimbakrao Ingole - 2018 0 Supreme(Bom) 1977:** These contain references to *Sohan Devi* (2016) and *Vasanthakumary*. While they rely on *Aloka Bose*, they integrate several other citations, making the specific hierarchy of authority regarding the *Aloka Bose* application ambiguous in those specific proceedings compared to the straightforward citations elsewhere.

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