Settlement once accepted and partly performed cannot be repudiated later; balance liability under the agreement remained enforceable.

A settlement recorded before the appellate tribunal was enforceable where the respondent had accepted and partly performed it, including making payments after the settlement. The court held that the respondent could not later deny the petitioner's separate legal identity or rely on alleged non-withdrawal of proceedings to avoid the agreed liability, especially when the record showed withdrawal of the listed proceedings. The balance due under the settlement remained crystallized after accounting for amounts already paid, and the petitioner was entitled to recover that balance.

---

---

Issues: Whether the petitioner was entitled to enforce the settlement recorded before the appellate tribunal and recover the balance amount due under the settlement, and whether the respondent could refuse payment on the ground that the petitioner and its group companies should be treated as one entity or that all pending proceedings had not been withdrawn.

Analysis: The settlement minutes and the appellate tribunal's order recorded an agreed liability of Rs. 208.85 crores, and the respondent had made substantial payments after the settlement, including payments made only to the petitioner. The subsequent conduct showed that the respondent treated the petitioner as a separate entity and could not later resile from the settlement by invoking liabilities allegedly due from other group companies. The record also showed withdrawal of the listed proceedings after the settlement, so the respondent's objection based on non-withdrawal was rejected. After accounting for the payments already made, the balance payable under the settlement remained due.

Conclusion: The petitioner was entitled to recover the balance amount under the settlement, and the respondent's objections were rejected.

Final Conclusion: The writ petition succeeded in part, and the respondent was directed to pay the quantified balance due to the petitioner.

Ratio Decidendi: A party that has accepted and partly performed a settlement cannot later repudiate it by shifting to a contrary position inconsistent with its own conduct, especially where the other side has complied with the settlement obligations substantially and the balance liability remains crystallized.

---