REMEDIES AVAILABLE FOR BREACH OF CONTRACT

People enter into agreements, in almost all spheres of life, whether in express terms or implied. It is when these agreements become enforceable by law, that they convert into contracts. However, there are times when either of the parties to such contract, fails to fulfil their end of the bargain and as a result, breach the contract. Thus, in India, it is The Indian Contract Act of 1872 which  provides various forms remedies at the disposal of the injured party, to make good the loss which is incurred by them. 

 Thus, the Act provides various way of remedying the breach, which are as follows:

1. DAMAGES: LIQUIDATED AND UNLIQUIDATED

The most common form of remedy provided to the suffering party, in case of breach of contract by the other, are damages. Damages refer to amount of compensation that is to be provided to the claiming party by the breaching party in order to make good the loss incurred by them due to the non-performance of the promise. The main contention is to put the suffering party back into the same position that they were in before the contract was breached.

These are of two kinds, namely liquidated and unliquidated. Liquidated damages are those which are already agreed upon by the parties while formulating the contract. Unliquidated damages are those which are dependent upon a contingency and cannot be pre-determined. They depend upon the circumstances and the degree of injury. 

2. SPECIFIC PERFORMANCE

Specific performance consists of the court, to issue an order directing the breaching party to perform a certain act, in light of the fulfilment of the contract or perform the same act as was promised by such party in order to complete the contract. 

An order of specific performance is provided only in a case where damages is not a suitable remedy. However, in a case where the loss can be made good through damages, then the court would not issue an order for specific performance. 

3. INJUNCTION 

A party seeking relief in the court can ask for an order of injunction in case any activity or act carried out by the other party tends to injure their legal right or privileges in any manner. This implies that the court can order the defending party to not begin a certain act or stop them from continuing the act which they are performing since it would jeopardise the legal rights of the other party. 

An order of injunction is issued by the court when the monetary damages awarded by it are not enough to suffice or make good the loss which is incurred by the claimant and the continuation of such acts by the breaching party would further injure the other party. 

4. RESTITUTION

Unlike compensation or damages, which involves making good the loss incurred by the injured party, restitution includes recompensing any form of gains which may have been claimed by the breaching party apart from the normal damages.

This means that where the defending party gains from the loss incurred by the other party or extracts some benefits on breaching the contract, the claimant can seek restitution in the court, thereby directing them to compensate such benefits or gains back to them. 

5. RESCISSION 

Rescission involves the party to rescind or cancel the contract. This generally take place wherein the contract has been entered into through the use of any unfair means such as fraud, misrepresentation or mistake etc,. In such a case, the rescinding party would cancel the contract in such a manner that it places them back to their original position as far as possible in which they were in before they entered into the contract.