Somya, a famous singer, enters into an agreement with Mr. Abhijit.... Somya wilfully absents herself from the theatre....Mr. Abhijit rescinds the contract.

Question: Somya, a famous singer, enters into an agreement with Mr. Abhijit, the manager of a Theatre Group, to sing at his theatre workshop for three nights every week during next two months. Mr. Abhijit agrees to pay to her Rs.20,000/- for each night’s performance. On the fifth night, Somya wilfully absents herself from the theatre workshop. As a result, Mr. Abhijit rescinds the contract. [HPJS 2019]

Find the answer to the mains question of the Law of Contract only on Legal Bites. [Somya, a famous singer, enters into an agreement with Mr. Abhijit, the manager of a Theatre Group, to sing at his theatre workshop for three nights every week during next two months. Mr. Abhijit agrees to pay to her Rs.20,000/- for each night’s performance. On the fifth night, Somya wilfully absents herself from the theatre workshop. As a result, Mr. Abhijit rescinds the contract.]

Answer

In the given case, Somya, a well-known singer, enters into a contract with Mr. Abhijit, the manager of a theatre group, to perform at his theatre for three nights every week for the next two months. As per the terms of the agreement, Mr. Abhijit agrees to pay Somya Rs. 20,000 for each night’s performance. Somya performs for five nights as agreed, but thereafter, she wilfully absents herself from the scheduled performance. Due to this breach, Mr. Abhijit decides to rescind the contract.

The legal issue that arises here is whether Somya is entitled to payment for the five nights on which she had already performed, even though she breached the contract on the sixth night. This situation is governed by Section 65 of the Indian Contract Act, 1872, which provides that when a contract becomes void or is rescinded, the party who has received any advantage under such contract is bound to restore it or compensate the other party for the benefit received.

Applying this provision to the facts of the case, it is clear that although Somya breached the contract and Mr. Abhijit rightly rescinded it, he had already received the benefit of five performances by Somya. Since he derived a clear advantage from these five performances, Section 65 obligates him to compensate her for the benefit received. Hence, Mr. Abhijit is legally bound to pay Somya Rs. 20,000 for each of the five nights she performed, amounting to a total of Rs. 1,00,000.

This conclusion is supported by Illustration (c) to Section 65 of the Indian Contract Act, which presents a similar scenario where a singer fails to perform after a certain number of nights and the manager rescinds the contract. The illustration clarifies that the singer is still entitled to payment for the nights on which she actually performed.

Therefore, even though Somya defaulted on the sixth night, she is entitled to receive payment for her prior performances under the principle of restitution embodied in Section 65 of the Act.