PREVENTIVE RELIEFS :

Part III of the Specific Relief Act, 1963 grants specific relief called Preventive Relief i.e., preventing a party from doing that which he is under an obligation not to do. Preventive relief is granted at the discretion of the court by way of an injunction.

An injunction is a specific order of the Court forbidding the commission of a wrong threatened or the continuance of a wrongful course of action already begun, or in some cases (when it is called a ‘mandatory injunction’) commanding active restitution of the former state of things.

Lord Halsbury defines injunction as “a judicial process whereby a party is ordered to refrain from doing or to do a particular act or thing”.

The main difference between an injunction and specific performance is that the remedy in case of an injunction is generally directed to prevent the violation of a negative act and therefore deals not only with contracts but also with torts and many other subjects of purely equitable one, whereas specific performance is directed to compelling performance of an active duty.

It is known as a “judicial process by which one, who has invaded or is threatening to invade the rights (legal or equitable) of another is restrained from continuing or commencing such wrongful act. Injunction is the most ordinary form of preventive relief. For the effective administration of justice, this power to prevent and to restrain is absolutely necessary.