Pal
Singh Vs. Sunder Singh & Ors [1989] INSC 5 (10 January 1989)
Mukharji,
Sabyasachi (J) Mukharji, Sabyasachi (J) Rangnathan, S.
CITATION:
1989 AIR 758 1989 SCR (1) 67 1989 SCC (1) 444 JT 1989 (1) 67 1989 SCALE (1)36
CITATOR
INFO : C 1991 SC1966 (*)
ACT:
Delhi
Rent Control Act, 1958: Sections 14(i)(e) and 39--Tenant-Eviction of--Whether
one co-owner of the property can maintain the eviction petition--Bona fide need
of land- lord--High Court appointed Advocate as Commissioner to give
report--After considering report High Court not interfering with finding by
appellate Court--Justified.
Indian
Evidence Act, 1872: Section 116--Estoppel in relation to tenants
HEAD NOTE:
In
1947 three rooms and a courtyard in an evacuee's property were given on tenancy
to the appellant by the Custodian of Evacuee Property. In 1956 the entire
property was jointly purchased by the father of the respondent and a lady. The
lady died in 1975 and her legal heirs became the co-landlords of the disputed
premises. In June 1975, the father of the respondents filed an eviction
petition against the appellant on the ground that the premises was required
bona fide by the landlord under section 14(1)(e) of the Delhi Rent Control Act,
1958. The legal heirs of the joint purchaser viz the lady, were, however, not impleaded
as parties. The appellant contested this petition alleging that the respondent
had no locus standi to file the petition, that the respondent was not the sole
owner of the premises in occupation of the appellant, that there was no
relation- ship of landlord and tenant existing between the parties, that as
other owners were not joined as parties the eviction petition was not
maintainable, and further that the permis- sion granted by the Slum Authority
was invalid. The Addi- tional Rent Controller held that one of the co-landlords
could receive payment on behalf of the other and that re- ceipt of rent by one
landlord would not by itself make him exclusive owner when the premises were in
fact owned by more than one owner and consequently the respondent alone could
not terminate the tenancy of the appellant. He further held that one coowner
could not terminate the tenancy when the property was owned by joint owners and
that the respondent landlord was not able to prove that there was no reasonable
suitable accommodation with him and that his claim for bona fide reasonably
requirement was not proved. He accordingly dismissed the suit for eviction.
68
Aggrieved by the order of the Additional Rent Control- ler, the respondent
filed an appeal before the Rent Control Tribunal. The Tribunal held that the
respondent was entitled to claim the premises on the ground of bona fide
requirement for the use of his family, and that the property had all along been
used for residential purposes and that it would not be proper to accept the
view that the purpose of letting out was residential-cure-commercial- On the
question whether one coowner could maintain the suit for eviction the Tribu- nal
held that in the circumstances of the case the respond- ent landlord as a
co-owner alone could have maintained the eviction petition.
The
appellant filed a second appeal and the High Court rejected the same on the
ground that the action for eviction was justified in view of section 14(1)(e)
of the Act, and that the need of the landlord was bona fide, and further the
High Court affirmed the view that a co-owner in the facts and circumstances of
the case was entitled to maintain an action for eviction.
In the
appeal by special leave to this Court it was contended on behalf of the
appellant tenant that in the absence of the other co-owner the suit for
eviction was incompetent, and that the bona fide need was not properly proved
and the High Court was in error in upholding the order of eviction on this
ground.
Dismissing
the appeal,
HELD:
1. When the other co-owner did not object to the eviction one co-owner could
maintain an action for eviction even in the absence of the other co-owner.
[75D] In the instant case, the direction given by the Court in the suit for specific
performance of an agreement to sell filed by Smt. Sham Kaur against the
respondent-landlord, was not with respect to the portion of the property which
was in the occupation of the tenant--appellant and which was the subject matter
of the eviction petition. The three rooms and the courtyard in question, the
subject matter of dispute, fails in the share of Sunder Singh--respondent who
had filed the eviction petition. Furthermore there is no evidence that Smt.
Sham Kaur or her representatives wanted the appellants to continue. [75E-G] Kanta
Goel v. B.P. Pathak and others, [1977] 2 SCC 814;
Sri
Ram Pasricha v. Jagan Nath [1976] 4 SCC 184 referred to.
69
2. The
law is that the estoppel of a tenant under sec- tion 116 of the Evidence Act
was a recognition and statutory assimilation of the equitable principles
underlying the estoppel in relation to tenants. [76D] In the instant case, the
rent had all along been col- lected by the respondent from the appellant. [76D]
Tej Bhan Madan v. II Additional District Judge and others, [1988] 3 SCC 137,
referred to.
3. The
High Court noted that the plea of the appellant that immediately prior to the
filing of the petition, the landlord had rented out a few rooms on the ground
floor, was not specifically raised in the pleadings nor in the first appeal,
and rightly held that it was not proper to raise this question in the second
appeal. [76E-F]
4. The
High Court appointed an Advocate as Local Commis- sioner to visit the premises
and give his report. The report corroborated the stand of the
landlord-respondent. In that view of the matter it was not possible for the
High Court to have further interfered with the findings of the Appellate Court.
[77B] Vinod Kumar Arora v. Surjit Kurnar [1987] 3 SCC 711 referred to.
5. The
respondent was, therefore, entitled to maintain the eviction petition alone and
he had proved the grounds for eviction and that his need was bona fide and that
he had no other suitable accommodation in his possession. [77E] V. Dhanpal Chettiar
v. Yesodai Ammal, [1980] 1 SCR 334, referred to.
CIVIL
APPELLATE JURISDICTION: Civil Appeal No. 2311 of 1986.
From
the Judgment and Order dated 30.1.1986 of the Delhi High Court in S.A.O. No.
326 of 1980.
Rajinder
Sachhar, Aruneshwar Gupta and Sunil Malhotra for the Appellant.
D.K. Kapoor,
Indu Goswamy and Harish N. Salve for the Respondents.
70 The
Judgment of the Court was delivered by SABYASACHI MUKHARJI, J: This appeal by
special leave is from the judgment and order of the High Court of Delhi dated
30th of January, 1986. The order in question was passed by the High Court in
second appeal. In order to appreciate the controversy in this appeal, it is
necessary to refer to certain facts. In 1947 three rooms and a courtyard in Prem-
ises Nos. 22 16-2222, Gali Inder Chammar Teliwara, Delhi as an Evacuee Property was given on
tenancy to the appellant by the Custodian of the Evacuee property. In 1956, the
entire property was jointly purchased by the father of the respond- ent and Smt.
Sham Kaur from the Custodian of the Evacuee property. Smt. Sham Kaur had paid
50 per cent of the consid- eration money, i.e., Rs.25,700 towards the sale
amount. It was a joint purchase. Smt. Sham Kaur died in 1975 and her legal
heirs became the co-landlords of the disputed prem- ises. In June 1975 the
father of the respondents had filed an Eviction Petition against the appellant
on the ground that the premises in question was required bona fide by the
landlord under section 14(1)(e) of the Delhi Rent Control Act, 1958,
hereinafter called the said Act. Legal heirs of Smt. Sham Kaur were, however,
not impleaded as parties. On 28th of October, 1976 the First Additional Rent
Controller, Delhi dismissed the suit for eviction.
Several grounds had been taken in defence by the appellant herein before the
First Additional Rent Controller. It was contended, inter alia that the
respondent had no locus standi to file the petition and that the respondent was
not the sole owner of the premises in occupation of the appellant. It was
further contended that there was no relationship of landlord and tenant between
the parties in view of the aforesaid conten- tion. Other owners had not been
joined as parties and as such the suit was not maintainable, it was submitted.
It was further urged that the permission granted by the Slum Au- thority was
invalid. Service of a proper notice dated 12th July, 1972 was denied. The respondent had
filed reply to the opposition by the appellant. The First Additional Rent
Controller held that there was proper service of the notice.
But
the validity of the notice was challenged on the ground that the premises were
previously evacuee property. A cer- tificate of sale had been issued in favour
of one Sunder Singh and the respondent. The respondent had admitted that the
sale certificate was issued in the joint name of Smt.
Sham Kaur,
widow of Sunder Singh and the respondent. It was stated that the premises were
let out to the appellant by the Custodian of the Evacuee Property and he had
not entered into any separate agreement of lease and the terms of the lease
were never settled in the presence of the respondent.
In
view of this admission it was held that 71 Smt. Sham Kaur and the appellant
both became owners of the property in question and both had become landlords of
the premises in suit. It was argued that the other co-owner ceased to be
landlord of the premises because rent was continuously paid to the respondent.
The First Additional Rent Controller held against the respondent in respect of
this contention. He was of the opinion that one of the co- landlords could
receive payment on behalf of the other.
Receipt
of rent by one landlord would not by itself make him the exclusive owner when
the premises were in fact owned by more than on owner. The First Additional
Rent Controller held that in the premises the respondent alone could not
terminate the tenancy of the appellant. The First Additional Rent Controller
distinguished the decision of this Court in Sri Ram Pasricha v. Jagan Nath,
[1976] 4 S.C.C. 184. The First Additional Rent Controller held that one
co-owner could not terminate the tenancy when the property was owned by joint
owners. The First Additional Rent Controller also found that the landlord being
respondent herein was not able to prove that there was no reasonably suitable
accommodation with him. It was also held that his bona fide reasonable
requirement was not proved.
Aggrieved
by the aforesaid order of the First Additional Rent Controller the respondent
herein went up in appeal before the Rent Control Tribunal, Delhi. The Rent Control Tribunal noticed
that the ground for eviction taken up by the respondent was under section 14(1)(e)
of the Act. The property in dispute had been let out for residential purpose
and was bona fide required by the respondent for himself and members of his
family residing with him. The Tribunal no- ticed that the respondent had a
large family comprising of 3 sons and 5 daughters and the accommodation with
him was insufficient and he had no reasonably suitable accommodation with him.
The Rent
Control Tribunal after taking into considera- tion the judgment of Shri Jaspal
Singh, Additional District Judge, Delhi, in connection with the suit filed by Smt.
Sham Kaur for specific performance of the agreement to sell came to the
conclusion that the bona fide of the requirement was established. The premises
was let out according to Tribunal for the residential purpose and it was bona
fide required by the landlord for his requirement and for the members of his
family and that he had no other sufficiently reasonable accommodation with him
to satisfy his needs. On the question whether one co-owner could institute the
suit for the evic- tion in the facts and circumstances of the case, the Tribu- nal
came to the conclusion that he could. On the question of the property being let
out for residential or 72 commercial purposes after analysing the evidence that
the use of the property had been all along residential and the property had
been used only for residential purpose, the Tribunal was of the view that it
would not be proper to accept the position that the purpose of letting was residen-
tial-cum-commercial.
On the
question of the bona fide requirement the Tribu- nal took into consideration
the members of the family of the respondent and noted that the evidence was
that the family consisted of respondent himself, his wife, 3 sons, all of which
were married and 5 daughters. Though the daughters of the respondent were
married the Tribunal came to the conclu- sion that the respondent as landlord
had a right to ask for accommodation for the daughters occasional visits. It
has also not been proved according to the Tribunal that the sons of the
respondent were not staying with him and therefore their requirement had also
to be taken into consideration.
Thereafter,
taking into consideration need for a pooja-room, one sitting room and one barsati
and keeping in view the large family of the respondent the Tribunal came to
that conclusion that the property in view of the present family dependents of
the respondent was bona fide required.
On the
question whether one co-owner being able to maintain the action for eviction,
the Tribunal came to the conclusion in view of the decision of this Court in
Sri Ram Pasricha v. Jagannath (supra) and the decision of this Court in Kanta Goel
v. B.P. Pathak and others, [1977] 2 SCC 814, in the facts and circumstances of
the case that the respond- ent-landlord as a co-owner alone could have
maintained the eviction petition.
Aggrieved
thereby there was a further second appeal by the appellant to the High Court.
The High Court on 30th January, 1986 dismissed the second appeal. The High
Court held that the action for eviction was justified in view of section
14(1)(e) of the Act and the need of the landlord was bona fide and further the High
Court affirmed the view that a co-owner in the facts and circumstances of the
case was entitled to maintain an action for eviction. The High Court,
therefore, rejected the second appeal.
Aggrieved
thereby the tenant is before this Court in appeal under Article 136 of the
Constitution. Two conten- tions were urged by Mr. Rajinder Sachhar appearing on
behalf of the tenant. It was submitted that in the absence of the other
co-owner, Smt. Sham Kaur, the suit for eviction was incompetent. It was
secondly urged that the bona 73 fide need was not properly proved and the High
Court was in error in upholding the order of eviction on this ground. The first
question was gone into by this Court in the decision of Sri Ram Pasricha v. Jagannath
(supra). There the plain- tiff-respondent was a co-owner of the suit
properties. He had filed a suit for the eviction on grounds of default in
payment of rent and personal requirement. The Trial Court and the Lower
Appellate Court decreed the suit having held that the plea of reasonable
requirement by the members of the family for whose benefit the premises were
held was established. A single Judge of the High Court reversed the decision
but the Division Bench restored the Trial Court's order. There was an appeal by
the tenant-defendant. This Court held that the co-owner was as much an owner of
the entire property as any sole owner of the property was. This Court
reiterated that jurisprudentially it was not correct to say that a co-owner of
the property was not its owner. He owned every part of the composite property
along with others and it could not be said that he was only a part-owner or a
fractional owner of the property. The position would change only when partition
would take place and therefore, this Court found that it was not possible to
accept the submis- sion that the plaintiff in that case who admittedly was a
landlord and co-owner of the premises was not the owner of the premises within
the meaning of section 13(1)(f) of the West Bengal Premises Tenancy Act, 1956.
It may be mentioned incidentally that in essential respects the provision of
section 13(1)(f) of the West Bengal Premises Tenancy Act is similar or pari materia
to section 14(1)(e) of the Act. It is not necessary, this Court reiterated, to
establish that the plaintiff was the only owner of the property for the purpose
of section 13(1)(f) of the West Bengal Act as long as he was the co-owner of
the property being at the same time the acknowledged landlord of the
defendants. This plea of the defendant-tenant, this Court found, could not
there- fore be accepted. This Court was of the opinion that the plea pertained
to the domain of the frame of the suit as if the suit was bad for non-joinder
of other plaintiff such a plea should have been raised, according to this
Court, for whatever it was worth at the earliest opportunity. It was not done
in that case. This however is not the position in the instant case before us.
This plea was taken in defence and raised as an issue before the Additional
Rent Control- ler. Secondly, it was held by this Court that the relation- ship
between the parties being that of the landlord and tenant, only the landlord
could terminate the tenancy and institute the suit for eviction.The tenant in
such a suit is estopped from questioning the title of the landlord under
section 116 of the Evidence Act. He could not deny that the landlord had title
to the premises at the commencement of the tenancy. Under the general law, in a
suit between 74 landlord and tenant the question of title to the leased
property was irrelevant. It is, therefore, inconceivable to throw out the suit
on account of non-pleading of other co- owners as such. There had been clear
acknowledgment and admission in that case of the defendants and on concurrent
findings of this Court held the action was valid.
The
same principle was reiterated by this Court in Kanta Goel v. B.P. Pathak
(supra). In that case a portion of the first floor of a building was let out by
the owners to the appellant before this Court. The owner died leaving 3 sons
and a daughter. The first respondent who was in occupation of a government
allotment was required by government to vacate these premises. He took
proceedings under section 14A of the Delhi Rent Control Act, 1958, against the
tenant of the other portion of the first floor and after evicting that tenant
kept those premises vacant. Thereafter, he again took proceedings under section
14A against the appellant. The other respondents did not join with the first
respondent.
The
first respondent claimed that he became the sole owner of the first floor under
the will of his father followed by a partition between himself and his brother.
The appellant contended that the respondent was not the sole owner and that the
other respondents should have been made parties to the proceedings. The Rent
Controller overruled the appel- lant's contention and ordered eviction. The
High Court impleaded the other respondents and confirmed the order of eviction.
In
appeal to this Court, it was contended that,
(1) the
1st respondent was not the appellant's landlord;
(2) the
premises were not in the 1st respondent's name and had not been let out by him;
(3) the
co-heirs should have been impleaded before the Controller;
(4) the
Controller should have allowed the appellant to contest the owner's will; and
(5)
Section 14A could be used twice over for eviction of tenants from more than one
premises. Allowing the appeal, this Court held that on reading in the context
of the Rent Control Law, the simple sense of the situation was that there
should be a building which is let out, a landlord who collected rent and a
tenant who paid it. The appellant, as the tenant, had been paying rent to the
1st respondent. The latter, together with the other respondents constituted the
body of landlords and by consent, implicit or otherwise, the 1st respondent was
collecting rent on behalf of all. He therefore functioned as a landlord and was
entitled to institute proceedings qua landlord. 'In his name' and 'let out' by
him read in the spirit of the provision and without violence to the words of
the section clearly convey the idea that the premises must be owned by him
directly and the lessee must be under him directly, 75 which is the case, where
the 1st respondent as heir steps into the shoes of his father who owned the
building. He represents the former owner and lessor falls within section 14A of
the Act. The accent on 'name' is only to pre-empt the common class of benami
evasions. It was further held that a co-owner is as much the owner of the entire
property as any sole owner. Therefore, there was no substance in the conten- tion
that the absence of the other co-owners disentitled the other co-owners from
suing for eviction. In the High Court, the other co-owners who were parties did
not object to the claim of the 1st owner to the first floor on the strength of
the will. The objection to the will was not a serious objec- tion. The other
finding is not relevant for the present purpose.
In Kanta
Goel case (supra) this Court followed the decision in Sri Ram Pasricha v. Jagannath
(supra). This Court left open the question as to what would happen if some of
the co-owners wanted the tenant to continue contrary to the relief claimed by
the claimant co-owner. Relying on the two aforesaid decisions in the facts of
this case, in so far as the ratio of the two decisions was concerned, Mr. Rajind-
er Sachhar contended that as yet there is no principle established by this
Court that any one of the co-owners could maintain an action for eviction. In
the instant case, it was contended that it was on record that a suit had been
filed by Smt. Sham Kaur against the respondent for specific performance of an
agreement to sell a portion of the proper- ty and for direction to him to
execute the sale-deed with respect to a portion of the premises bearing Nos. 22
16 to 2222. That suit was decreed by Shri Jaspal Singh, Additional District
Judge, Delhi and Sunder Singh was ordered to exe- cute the sale-deed in favour
of the co-owner Smt. Sham Kaur.
The
High Court however recorded that the case of the parties was that there was an
appeal against the judgment and decree and the same was pending and the portion
with respect to which the direction has been given was not the portion which is
in occupation of the tenant and which is the subject- matter of this eviction
petition. It appears that even according to the decree this portion, i.e., 3
rooms and the courtyard in question which is the subject-matter of dispute in
the instant case, falls in the share of Sunder Singh who had filed the eviction
petition. Furthermore, there is no evidence that other cotenant the widow, Smt.
Sham Kaur or her representatives wanted the appellant to continue. This in our
opinion falls within the ratio of Kanta Goel v. B.P. Pathak (supra) where this
Court clearly held that when the other co-owner did not object to the eviction
one co-owner could maintain an action for eviction even in the absence of other
co-owner. Here also Smt. Sham Kaur and her heirs did not object to 76 the claim
for eviction made by the respondents herein. In that view of the matter and in
the circumstances of this case, we are of the opinion that the ratio of the
said case will apply and this suit will be maintainable even in the absence of
all the owners to the eviction proceedings.
In Tej
Bhan Madan v. II Additional District Judge and others, [1988] 3 SCC 137 this
Court reiterated that there can be a denial of the title by the tenant of his
landlord without the tenant renouncing his character as such where, for
instance, he sets up a plea of jus tertii. But the implication of the ground on
which the denial of the title was made was that if the tenant-appellant could
not have denied the vendor's title by virtue of the inhibitions of the attornment,
he could not question the vendee's title either. The tenant did himself no
service by this stand.
This
Court reiterated that the principle that the tenant cannot deny the title of
the landlord in its basic founda- tions, means no more than that under certain
circumstances law considers it unjust to allow a person to approbate and
reprobate. The law is that the estoppel of a tenant under section 116 of the
Evidence Act was a recognition and statu- tory assimilation of the equitable
principles underlying the estoppel in relation to tenants. In this case the
rent had all along been collected by the respondent.
On the
question of bona fide it was contended before us by Mr. Sachhar that in the
High Court, immediately prior to the filing of the petition the landlord had
rented out a few rooms on the ground floor, as such it pleaded that there was
no bona fide. This point, the High Court noted, was not raised in the first
appeal. Furthermore, it was not specifi- cally raised in the pleadings.
Therefore, the High Court found that it was not proper for the parties to raise
this question in the second appeal. The High Court was right and we cannot
interfere on this ground. The High Court was also invited to interfere with the
findings of fact as to the bona fide nature of the need of the landlord. The
High Court's attention was drawn on the finding of the 1st Addl.
Rent
Controller contained in paragraph 11 of the judgment wherein it was held that
the landlord was having reasonably suitable accommodation. That plea had been reversed,
it was contended, without going into the merits of the case by the Tribunal.
The High Court however noted that during the pendency of the second appeal an
application was filed on behalf of the appellant-tenant seeking that certain
events subsequent to the passing of the impugned judgment may be permitted to
be brought on record. The application was directed to be considered at the time
of the hearing of the appeal before the High Court. The High Court appointed
one Advocate as the Local Commissioner to visit the 77 premises and give his
report regarding three rooms on the ground floor of the premises in dispute
which according to the appellant had fallen vacant and was then in the occupa- tion
of the landlord. The landlord's case was that the rooms were in occupation of
the legal heirs of the tenants. It was pleaded that those rooms could not be
used for residential purposes as they were merely meant to be used as stores.
The Commissioner appointed by the High Court filed a report which corroborated
the stand of the landlord-respondent. The High Court had considered all this.
In that view of the matter it was not possible for the High Court to have fur- ther
interfered with the findings of the appellate court.
Our
attention was drawn to certain observations of this Court in Vinod Kumar Arora
v. Surjit Kumar, [1987] 3 Supreme Court Cases 711. We do not find that the High
Court has committed any error in following the principles enunciated in that
decision. Indeed, interference by the High Court with the finding recorded by
the First Appellate Court would have in this case been unwarranted.
There
was nothing so far as the service of notice was concerned. In view of the
principle enunciated by this Court in V. Dhanapal Chettiar v. Yesodal Ammal,
[1980] 1 SCR 334 we are of the opinion that in the facts and circumstances of
the case, the respondent appellant was entitled to maintain this eviction
petition alone and he had proved the grounds for eviction and that his need was
bona fide and that he had no other suitable accommodation in his possession.
In the
premises, there is no merit in this appeal. The appeal fails and is accordingly
dismissed with costs.
N.V.K.
Appeal dismissed.
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