( 1 ) THE plaintiff Anandilal Poddar instituted this suit on May 24; 1958 against Rai Bahadur Gunendra Krishna Roy and United Bank of India Ltd. , for specific performance of the contract dated August 25, 1956 as modified on September 16, 1957 and for other reliefs. The contract dated August 25, 1956 was entered into between Anandilal Poddar and Rai Bahadur Gunendra Krishna Roy hereinafter referred to for the sake of brevity as Roy defendant for purchase of premises No. 57, Jatindra Mohan Avenue, Calcutta for the consideration of Rupees 6,01,000 on, inter alia, the following terms and conditions: (a) The said premises should be sold to the plaintiff free from encumbrances. (b) The sale should be completed by December 15, 1956 and in this respect time should be deemed as essence of the contract unless by mutual agreement between the plaintiff and Roy defendant such time was extended. (c) Roy defendant should give vacant possession of the said premises to the plaintiff within a time to be settled later. On August 25, 1956 the plaintiff paid Roy defendant a sum of Rs. 25,000 as earnest and in part payment of the said consideration. In 1950 the defendant United Bank of I