Contract Law – Interpretation of Contractual Terms – Once the parties committed themselves to a written contract, whereby they reduced the terms and conditions agreed upon by them to writing, the same would be binding upon them. In the event such a written contract provided for the consequences that are to follow in the event of breach of the conditions by one or the other of the parties thereto, such consequences must necessarily follow and if resisted, they would be legally enforceable.- In interpreting documents relating to a contract of insurance, the duty of the Court is to interpret the words in which the contract is expressed by the parties because it is not for the Court to make a new contract, however reasonable, if the parties have not made it themselves – a contract, being a creature of an agreement between two or more parties, is to be interpreted giving the actual meaning to the words contained in the contract and it is not permissible for the Court to make a new contract, however reasonable, if the parties have not made it themselves – through its interpretative process, the Court cannot rewrite or create a new contract between the parties and has to simply apply the terms and conditions of the agreement as agreed between the parties- Courts cannot substitute their own view of the presumed understanding of commercial terms by the parties, if the terms are explicitly expressed – the explicit terms of a contract are always the final word with regard to the intention of the parties. [In this case, date for delivery of possession of the apartment for fit outs, with the grace period, was 30.06.2017. Admittedly, the respondent-company did not offer delivery of possession of the apartment for fit outs by that date. The ‘date of offer of possession’, under Clause 1.14, linked with issuance of the ‘Occupation Certificate’ was distinct and separate from the ‘date of delivery of possession for fit outs’ and Clause 11.3 unequivocally provided the consequences in the event of delay in that regard. The right of election given thereunder to the appellants 14 to either continue or to terminate the Agreement within ninety days from the expiry of the grace period was absolute and it was not open to the NCDRC to apply its own standards and conclude that, though there was delay in handing over possession of the apartment, such delay was not unreasonable enough to warrant cancellation of the Agreement. It was not for the NCDRC to rewrite the terms and conditions of the contract between the parties and apply its own subjective criteria to determine the course of action to be adopted by either of them] (Para 15-17)
Refund – When the Agreement itself provided for the interest component on the refund amount and stipulated the rate thereof as 12% p.a. That being so, the respondent-company cannot seek reduction of the rate of interest contrary to the agreed rate.