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22. In Hind Construction Contractors case quoting Halsbury’s Laws of England, this Court observed at pages 1154-55 as under:

(SCC pp. 76-77, paras 7 & 8) “In the latest 4th edn. of Halsbury’s Laws of England in regard to building and engineering contracts the statement of law is to be found in Vol. 4, para 1179, which runs thus:

‘1179. Where time is of the essence of the contract. — The expression time is of the essence means that a breach of the condition as to the time for performance will entitle the innocent party to consider the breach as a repudiation of the contract. Exceptionally, the completion of the work by a specified date may be a condition precedent to the contractor’s right to claim payment. The parties may expressly provide that time is of the essence of the contract and where there is power to determine the contract on a failure to complete by the specified date, the stipulation as to time will be fundamental. Other provisions of the contract may, on the construction of the contract, exclude an inference that the completion of the works by a particular date is fundamental; time is not of the essence where a sum is payable for each week that the work remains incomplete after the date fixed, nor where the parties contemplate a postponement of completion.