IMPORTANT POINT
There is no conflict between Sections 106 and 107 of the Act and for application of Section 106 a valid year to year lease shall be deemed to exist only when it is created by a registered instrument; non-existence of a registered instrument to create such a lease will by itself exclude Section 106.

JUDGMENT

Phukan, J.-In this appeal by special leave the appellant has impugned the judgment of the Division Bench of Delhi High Court passed in R.F.A. No. 325 of 1997 by which the High Court upheld the judgment of the Additional District Judge, Delhi.

2. The respondents filed a suit for eviction of the appellant from the suit land and also for recovery of arrears of rent and damages/mesne profits. According to respondents the appellant was a monthly tenant and, therefore, 15 days notice terminating the tenancy, as required under Section 106 of Transfer of Property Act (for short the Act ) was issued, receipt of which was not disputed. The tenancy was created by an oral agreement The appellant admitted the tenancy but pleaded that the intention of the parties at the time of its creation was to grant tenancy permanently because the lease was granted in favour of the appellant for manufacturing purpose and since the inception of the tenancy, the appellant was carrying on business of manufacturing transmission towers and railway electrification fittings. On these facts it was pleaded that the lease would be deemed to be from year to year as per the provisions of Section 106 of the Act and, therefore, notice to quit ought to have been given for 6 months expiring on last date of the year of the tenancy. Before the Trial Court an application under Order XII Rule 6 C.P.C. was filed which was allowed, as according to the Trial Court in the written statement there was clear admission by the appellant.

3. Before this court, learned counsel for the appellant, Mr. Jaideep Gupta referring to the provisions of Section 106 of the Act has contended that since the lease was for manufacturing purpose, the legal presumption as envisaged in Section 106 of the Act would apply and, therefore, it was a case of a tenancy from year to year terminable by 6 months notice and not by 15 days notice. The learned counsel has further contended that though under Section 107 of the Act a lease from year to year can be made only by a registered deed, this section nowhere controls the presumption laid down in Section 106 of the Act and as such the notice to quit in the present appeal is bad in law. In reply the learned senior counsel for the respondents, Mr. Verma has submitted that in view of the law laid down by this court in Ram Kumar Das v. Jagdish Chandra Deo, Dhabal Dev and Anr.1 and Shri Janki Devi Bhagat Trust, Agra v. Ram Swarup Jain (Dead) By LRs.2, the contention of the learned counsel for the appellant is liable to be rejected.

4. To appreciate the respective contentions that have been put forward by the learned counsel for the parties we extract below Sections 106 and 107 of the Act:

"106. Duration of certain leases in absence of written contract or local usage-In the absence of a contract or local law or usage to the contrary, a lease of immovable property for agricultural or manufacturing purposes shall be deemed to be a lease from year to year, terminable on the part of either lessor or lessee, by six months notice expiring with the end of a year of the tenancy; and a lease of immovable property for any other purpose shall be deemed to be a lease from month to month, terminable, on the part of either lessor or lessee, by fifteen days notice expiring with the end of a month of the tenancy.

Every notice under this section must be in writing signed by or on behalf of the person giving it, and either be sent by post to the party who is intended to be bound by it or be tendered or delivered personally to such party, or to one of his family or servants at his residence, or if such tender or delivery is not practicable affixed to a conspicuous part of the property.

107. Lease how made-A lease of immovable property from year to year, or for any term exceeding one year, or reserving a yearly rent, can be made only by a registered instrument.

All other leases of immovable property may be made either by a registered instrument or by oral agreement accomp