JUDGMENT

THOMMEN, J.:— The appellant, the East India Corporation Limited, is the defendant in O.S. No. 623 of 1980, which is a suit instituted by the respondent, Shree Meenakshi Mills Limited, for recovery of possession of a building on the ground of arrears of rent, etc. The respondent-plaintiff alleged that the appellant-defendant was the tenant of the building in question and that it has not paid the agreed rent of Rs. 900/ -per month for a long period, despite persistent demands, and has thus been in "wilful default" of payment of the agreed rent. The appellant denied these allegations. It specifically denied any relationship of landlord and tenant between the parties, and contended that its occupation of the building was not as a tenant of the respondent, but as one of the "associates" or "co-sharers" or "co-owners". The suit was decreed. The decree of the learned Munsif was affirmed in appeal by the first appellate Court as well as by the High Court. All the three Courts, rejecting the appellants contentions to the contrary, found that it was a tenant of the respondent; it questioned without bona fide the respondents title as landlord; it was in default of payment of rents, a