Lis Pendens

Madhya Pradesh High Court: Once a Specific Performance Suit Is Filed, a Buyer's Good Faith No Longer Matters

Deciding two connected first appeals from a decree for specific performance of an agreement to sell agricultural land near Indore, the Madhya Pradesh High Court applied the Supreme Court's recent reconciliation of Section 19(b) of the Specific Relief Act, 1963 with Section 52 of the Transfer of Property Act, 1882, holding that a sale executed after suit is filed is bound by the doctrine of lis pendens regardless of the buyer's good faith. The Court went on to correct a structural defect in the trial court's decree: a pendente lite transferee is not simply written out of the title by declaring the sale deed void, but must be directed to join the original vendor in executing the conveyance to the decree-holder.