JUDGMENT :

The unsuccessful plaintiff before both the Courts below has filed the present second appeal. The plaintiff filed the suit for specific performance of contract dated 08.04.2002 (Ex.A1) or in the alternative to refund the advance amount paid by him to the defendants 1 to 3 together with interest.

2. For the sake of convenience, the parties are referred to as per their rank in the trial court and at appropriate places, their rank in the present second appeal would also be indicated.

3. The case of the plaintiff in a nutshell is as follows :

The suit properties belong to the joint family of the defendants 1 to 7. The defendants 1 to 3 agreed to sell the suit properties in favour of the plaintiff for a sale consideration of Rs.1,50,000/-. Accordingly, the sale agreement was entered into between the plaintiff and the defendants 1 to 3 on 08.04.2002 (Ex.A1) and a sum of Rs.1,25,000/- was paid towards advance by the plaintiff. The time for payment of the balance sale consideration of Rs.25,000/- was fixed as two years. The plaintiff was always ready and willing to perform his part of the contract and he requested the defendants 1 to 3 to execute the sale deed. Since the defendants 1