An injunction

Under Section 36 of Specific Relief Act 1963, an injunction is defined as an

order of a competent court, which:

1. Forbids the commission of a threatened wrong,

2. Forbids the continuation of a wrong already begun, or

3. Commands the restoration of the status quo (the former course of

things).

Clauses i and ii deal with preventive relief, whereas clause iii deals with an
injunction called mandatory injunction, which aims at rectifying, rather than
preventing the defendant’s misconduct.

Under Sections 36 & 37 of the Specific Relief Act 1963, there are two types of
injunctions – temporary and perpetual, whereas Section 39 governs mandatory
injunctions.

Temporary or interim injunctions are governed by Order 39 of Civil

Procedure Code 1908 and are those injunctions that remain in force until a
specified period of time, e.g. 15 days, or till the date of the next hearing. Such
injunctions can be granted at any stage of the suit.

Permanent or perpetual injunctions, as under Sections 38 to 42 of the

Specific Relief Act, 1963 are contained in the decree passed by the Court after
fully hearing the merits of the case. Such an injunction permanently prohibits
the defendant from committing an act which would be contrary to the plaintiff’s
rights.
Temporary Injunction: The temporary Injunction is been granted by the Court
when the Defendant is about to the make some injury to the property of the
Plaintiff or threatens the Plaintiff to dispossess the property or creates a thirty
party interest in the property, then in such situation, the Court may grant a
temporary injunction to restrain the Defendant to do such an act or make other
order to prevent the dispossession of the plaintiff or prevent the causing of
injury to the plaintiff in relation to any property in dispute or creating any thirty
party rights in the property.

Temporary injunction is an interim remedy that is raised to reserve the subject

matter in its existing condition and which may be granted on an interlocutory
application at any stay of the suit. Its purpose is to prevent the suspension of the
plaintiff’s rights. Section 94 of the CPC provides the supplemental proceeding
so that Plaintiff can prevent this right, wherein Section 94 (c) and (e) of Code of
Civil Procedure, the Court may grant a temporary injunction or make such other
interlocutory orders. These are temporary injunction because its validity is until
the further order passed by the court or until the final decree of the case.

Further the ad-interim injunction is granted during the pendency of the

application and operates till the disposal of the application. In Ramrameshwari
Devi vs. Nirmala Devi and Ors. Civil Appeal No. 49/2011[2] – the Supreme
Court held that, the Court should be extremely careful and cautious while
granting ex-party ad interim injunctions or stay orders. Ordinarily a short notice
should be issued to the Defendant/Respondent and only after hearing both the
parties concerns Court can pass the appropriate orders.
When are perpetual injunctions granted?

A: Under Section 38 of the Specific Relief Act 1963, whenever the defendant
invades, or even threatens to invade the plaintiff’s right to enjoyment of
property or right to property itself, the Court may grant to the plaintiff a
perpetual or permanent injunction in the four cases as follows:

1. Where there is no standard for quantifying the actual damages caused,

or likely to be caused, to the plaintiff, by the invasion of his rights;

2. Where invasion of the plaintiff’s rights is such that any compensation

in money would be inadequate relief;

3. Where the defendant is a trustee of the property for the plaintiff;

4. Where the injunction is necessary to prevent multiplicity of judicial

proceedings.

Mandatory injunctions are granted in cases where in order to prevent the non-
performance of an obligation, it is necessary to compel the performance of
certain acts which the Courts are capable of enforcing. Thus, the Court may at
its discretion grant an injunction to prevent such non-performance and also to
compel performance of the required acts. This injunction is applicable to the
breach of any obligation. It may be permanent or temporary, although
temporary-mandatory injunctions are rare.

Damages instead of, or in addition to injunction:

Section 40 of the Specific Relief Act 1963 states that a plaintiff may claim
damages either in addition to or in substitution for suing for perpetual or
mandatory injunction, and if the Court deems fit, it may even grant such
damages.

It is worth emphasizing that damages and injunction are not alternate remedies.
Both may be allowed at the discretion of the Court.

However, damages cannot be granted unless the plaintiff has claimed damages
in the plaint. In the event that the plaintiff has not claimed damages in the
plaintiff itself, he should be allowed to amend the plaintiff, at any stage of the
proceedings, on such terms as may be just in the circumstances of the case.

To conclude, it is thus evident that there are several remedies available in case
of breach of a contract, none of which are very simple. One would have to
overcome an abundance of challenges and rebuttals to prove a case of breach of
contract.