SUSHILA DEVI AND ANR. vs HARI SINGH AND ORS.

The Supreme Court held that Section 56 of the Contract Act applies to agreements to lease, not to leases themselves. In this case, since no lease deed was executed due to the partition of India, only an agreement to lease existed, which fell under Section 56. The Court found that the performance of the contract became impossible due to supervening events, thus allowing the respondents to claim a refund of the amounts deposited and damages.