1. Landlord-tenant dispute regarding eviction from non-agricultural land — validity of termination notice under Section 9(1)(iii) of the Bengal Non Agricultural Tenancy Act. (Para 1 )
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1966 Supreme(SC) 107
SUPREME COURT OF INDIA
K.N. WANCHOO, M. HIDAYATULLAH AND J.C. SHAH, JJ.
Indian Iron and Steel Co. Ltd., Appellant
Versus
Biswanath Sonar, Respondent.
Civil Appeal No l090 of 1963 D/- 22-3-1966.
Advocates appeared
Mr. M. C. Setalvad, Senior Advocate D. N. Mukherjee, Advocate, with him), for Appellant, Mr. A. K. Sen, Senior Advocate (Mr. P. K. Chatterjee Advocate with him for Respondent.
Advocates:
A.K.SEN GUPTA, D.N.MUKHERJI, M.C.SETALVAD, P.K.CHATTERJI
A.K.SEN GUPTA, D.N.MUKHERJI, M.C.SETALVAD, P.K.CHATTERJI
Under Section 9(1)(iii) of the Bengal Non-Agricultural Tenancy Act, "term" refers to the period of occupation. Therefore, monthly tenants occupying land for over one year are entitled to six months' notice expiring on the anniversary of the tenancy's commencement.
Headnote:(A) Bengal Non-Agricultural Tenancy Act - Section 9(1)(iii) - Non-agricultural tenancies held for less than twelve years - Interpretation of the word "term" - Whether a monthly tenant who has occupied land for more than one year is entitled to the protection of six months' notice expiring with the end of a year of tenancy - The word "term" in the opening part of Section 9(1)(iii) indicates the period of occupation and not necessarily a period agreed upon in a contract - A monthly tenant who has held land for more than a year is protected from eviction except by a notice of six months expiring on the anniversary of the commencement of the tenancy (Paras 6, 7, 8).
(B) Notice of termination - Validity - Where a tenancy is from month to month, "year" means a period of twelve months and the tenant may only be required to quit at the expiry of the whole year, i.e., on the anniversary of the commencement of the lease - Notice falling short of the statutory six-month period is ineffective (Paras 7, 9).
Facts of the case:
A landlord sought to evict a tenant from non-agricultural land held on a monthly tenancy. A notice was served on 29th June terminating the tenancy at the end of December of the same year. The tenant contended that under the applicable Act, the tenancy could not be determined except by six months' notice in writing expiring with the end of a year of tenancy.
Findings of Court:
The notice served was found to be ineffective as it fell short of the statutory six-month period required under the Act, based on the evidence regarding the commencement of the tenancy.
Issues: Whether the provisions of Section 9(1)(iii) of the Non-Agricultural Tenancy Act apply to a monthly tenancy and whether the notice served complied with the terms of the Act.
Ratio Decidendi: The court held that the word "term" in Section 9(1)(iii) refers to the duration of occupation rather than a contractually agreed term. Consequently, a monthly tenant who has occupied land for more than one year is entitled to the protection of a six-month notice expiring on the anniversary of the commencement of the tenancy.
Result: Appeal dismissed.
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2. Whether Section 9(1)(iii) applies to monthly tenancies based on actual occupation duration or requires a contractually agreed term of more than one year. (Para 2 )
3. The word term in the Act refers to both agreed contract duration and actual period of occupation, depending on the context of the specific section. (Para 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 )
4. Monthly tenants occupying non-agricultural land for over one year are entitled to six months' notice expiring on the anniversary of the tenancy's commencement. (Para 7 , 8 )
5. Appeal dismissed and the High Court's judgment upholding the invalidity of the termination notice affirmed. (Para 9 , 10 )
6. Does Section 9(1)(iii) of the Bengal Non Agricultural Tenancy Act apply to monthly tenancies?
Yes, if the monthly tenant has occupied the non-agricultural land for more than one year, they are protected under Section 9(1)(iii) regardless of the lack of a written lease for a fixed term. (Para 7 , 8 )
7. What does the phrase term of more than one year but less than twelve years mean in Section 9(1)(iii)?
In the context of Section 9, the word term indicates the period of actual occupation of the land rather than a period agreed upon in a contract. (Para 6 , 7 )
8. How is the notice period calculated for a monthly tenant under Section 9(1)(iii)?
A monthly tenant must be served a six-month notice that expires with the end of the year of tenancy, meaning the notice must terminate on the anniversary of the tenancy's commencement. (Para 7 )
Judgment
HIDAYATULLAH, J. : This appeal by special leave against the judgment and order of the High Court of Calcutta. December 5, 1961, arises from a suit between landlord and tenant. The Indian Iron and Steel Co. Ltd. (appellant) is the landlord and Biswanath Sonar (respondent) is the tenant and the tenancy is in respect of a piece of land with a rent of Rs. 4 per month. According to the Company the tenancy commenced in December 1938 and according to the tenant in the beginning of 1935. The two court of fact have found in favour of the Company on this point and the High Court has very properly accepted this concurrent finding but has held that tenancy began on the 1st of December, 1938, but more of that later. The suit was commenced in the Court of the Munsif at Asansol by the Company after serving a notice dated June 28, 1950, terminating the alleged monthly tenancy of the respondent with the expiry of December 1950. The notice was served on June 29, 1950. The Company asked for the relief of khas possession by evicting the tenant and reserved the relief of compensation for wrongful occupation after January 1, 1951, for a separate suit. The Company offered to pay such reasonable compensation for structures on the land as the court might determine. The respondent claimed benefit of S. 9 (1) (iii) of the Bengal Non Agricultural Tenancy Act under which, he submitted, his tenancy could not be determined except by service of six months notice in writing expiring with the year of tenancy. He contended that the notice served on the 29th of June terminating the tenancy at the end of December 1950, was not in accordance with the provisions of the Act as the tenancy commenced in the beginning of 1935, and therefore the suit was not maintainable. The learned Munsif held the notice to be proper and decreed the suit. On appeal the Additional District Judge, Asansol confirmed the decree passed by the Munsif. On second appeal a learned single Judge in the High Court reversed the decision of the two courts below and ordered the dismissal of the suit. He followed a decision of a Special Bench of his Court reported in the Indian Iron and Steel Co. Ltd. v. Baker Ali , AIR 1961 Cal 515 (SB) which had approved of two unreported decisions of the same Court reported in Sudhindra Nath Roy v. Haran Chandra Mistry , (S. A. No. 879 of 1950, D/- 25-1-1955 (Cal), and Narayan Chandra Sen v. Sripati Charan Kumar , (S. A. No. 425 of 1952, D/- 9-8-1955 (Cal). The learned single Judge refused leave to file an appeal under the Letters Patent but the appellant was granted special leave by this Court to appeal against the judgment of the learned single Judge.
2. In this appeal two questions arise namely, (i) whether the provisions of S. 9(1) (iii) of the Non-Agricultural Tenancy Act apply to the present tenancy, and (ii) whether the notice served upon the respondent complied with the terms of the Act. In so far as the first question is concerned no further facts are necessary. This question should have given no difficulty but for the fact that the language of the enactment is far from clear.. Section 9 (1) (iii) reads as follows :
"9. Incidents of non-agricultural tenancies held for less than twelve years.
(1) Notwithstanding anything contained in any other law for the time being in force or in any contract, if any non-agricultural land has been held for a term of more than one year but less than twelve years -
(a) under a lease in writing for a term of more than one year but less than twelve years to which the provisions of clause (5) of Section 7 do not apply, or
(b) without a lease in writing, or
(c) under a lease in writing but no term is specified in such lease,then the tenant holding such non-agricultural land shall be liable to ejectment on one or more of the following grounds and not otherwise, namely :-
(i) * * * * *
(ii) * * * * *
(iii) on the ground that the tenancy has been terminated by the landlord by six months notice in writing expiring with the end of
