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Lawful Consideration or Legal enforceability
Lawful consideration is one of the most essential elements of a valid contract. Section 2(d) of the Indian Contracts Act defines Lawful Consideration and in simple words it refers to something of value given to someone in return for some promise, goods or services.
In the case of R. Parimala Bai(Petitioner) V. Bhaskar Narasimhiah(Respondent) the High Court of Karnataka dismissed the complaint of the Petitioner for the dishonouring of cheque(insufficient funds which leads to bouncing of cheques) by the Respondent on the basis that the debt incurred by the Respondent was not legally enforceable . In this case the Petitioner had paid an amount of Rs. Ten Lakhs to the Respondent on his promise that he will provide a job to the Petitioner’s son at HAL Factory and when the promise was not fulfilled, the Petitioner demanded for the amount to be returned. The Respondent issued a cheque to the Petitioner for the same and the cheque got dishonoured which led to the filing of the complaint.
After looking into this matter, the view of the court was that the debt incurred by the respondent is not legally enforceable because the cheque was given for an illegal consideration which led to a void contract. The Promise to provide a job is not a legal consideration.
In conclusion it can be said that if the consideration is illegal in a contract then the contract tends to be void and any amount paid for this consideration will not be considered as a legally recoverable debt.
Some notable similar cases are [Virender Singh v. Laxmi Narayain and another] and [Kuju Collieries Ltd v. Jharkhand Mines Ltd].
