An agreement enforceable by law is a contract.

Essential elements of the contract are:-
1. Consideration of two or more parties.
2. Offer and acceptance.
3. Free consent.
4. Parties should be competent enough to enter into a contract etc.

Including all the essential elements makes a valid contract but a quasi contract can be made despite of the insufficiency of essential elements.
Quasi contract is based on one principle that is “ Unjust enrichment of one person at the cost of another”.
It simply means, loss shouldn’t be occurred to a person due to the profit of another.
Quasi contract is being defined under section 68 to section 72 of the Indian contract Act,1872. Quasi Contract is imposed by Law.

Situation 1
Section 68 of the Indian Contract Act, 1872 talks about basic necessaries supplied to a person incompetent to enter into a contract.
Example :- A minor left his house and an unknown major person provides him basic necessaries for his living. Then that person can claim the expenses which he had provided to minor from his estate. He cannot claim expenses from minor’s parents.

Situation 2
Section 69 of the Indian Contract Act,1872 talks about payment made by interested person or party.
Example :- Mr. A has taken a property on lease and he have a shoe factory on that property. His income source is the shoe factory. The owner of the factory didn’t paid the property tax to the Government. So the Government published an advertisement in a newspaper and declared auction of that factory. Loss would be occurred to Mr. A as his employment is connected to that shoe factory.
So in this case, Mr. A became an interested party and he paid the taxes to the Government on behalf of the property owner. He then claims in the Court of Law that he had paid all the taxes on behalf of the lesser. So it will be held by the court that the unjust enrichment will be of the owner. Profit is occurred to the owner and loss to the lesser so the court will established a Quasi Contract between them. It simply means Mr. A can recover the tax amount paid to the Government from the owner of the property.

Situation 3
Section 70 of the Indian Contract Act, 1872 talks about payment for non gratuitous act. “Non Gratuitous Act means the consideration of the party is involved”.
Example:- Goods was to be delivered to Mr. A but it was by mistakenly delivered to Mr. B and he used the goods so in this case, Mr. A can get compensation from Mr. B.

Situation 4
Section 71 of the Indian Contract Act, 1872 talks about the finder of the lost goods.
A person finds lost goods. In this case, a quasi contract will be made between the real owner of the goods and the finder of the goods.
Example:- Mr. A lost his gold chain and it was found to Mr. B. In this case, Mr. B is liable to return the gold chain to Mr. A but he refused to do so. Then Mr. A can go to the court and a quasi contract will be made between them. That is Mr. B has to return the gold chain to Mr. A and in case if he sells that chain then he has to give the money which he had incurred from selling it.

Situation 5
Section 72 of the Indian Contract Act, 1872 talks about payment made under mistake or coercion. Here “coercion” means “payment made under pressure”
Example 1:- Under pressure a transport company illegally charges extra money to release the goods. So the excess amount which was illegally paid can be taken back.
Example 2:- Mr. A has repaid the loan amount to Mr. B and the amount taken was 10,000 rupees but he mistakenly paid 15,000 rupees to Mr. B. So a quasi contract is being made between Mr. A and Mr. B for the extra payment of amount 5000 rupees.

Aishwarya Says:

I have always been against Glorifying Over Work and therefore, in the year 2021, I have decided to launch this campaign “Balancing Life”and talk about this wrong practice, that we have been following since last few years. I will be talking to and interviewing around 1 lakh people in the coming 2021 and publish their interview regarding their opinion on glamourising Over Work.

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