IMPORTANT POINTS
Tenant-landlord relationship; challenge to landlords title.

Judgment :-

T.S. THAKUR, J.

1. Leave granted.

2. In a suit for possession and recovery of mesne profit filed by the plaintiff- appellant before the trial Court of Additional District Judge, Delhi, the plaintiff prayed for a decree for possession in its favour on admissions, invoking the Court’s powers under Order XII Rule 6 of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908. The trial Court examined the prayer and held that the jural relationship of landlord and tenant was admitted between the parties and so was the rate of rent as settled by them. Service of a notice terminating the tenancy of the defendant-respondent also being admitted, the trial Court saw no impediment in decreeing the suit for possession of the suit property. The application filed by the plaintiff-appellant under Order XII Rule 6 of the CPC was accordingly allowed and the suit filed by the plaintiff to the extent it prayed for possession of the suit property decreed in its favour.

3. Aggrieved by the decree passed against the respondent, the respondent filed Regular First Appeal No. 81 of 2009 before the High Court of Delhi which was allowed by the High Court in terms of its order dated 14th March, 2011 reversing the judgment and decree passed by the trial Court and remanding the matter back to the said Court for disposal in accordance with law. The present appeal by special leave assails the correctness of the said judgment.

4. Mr. Nagendra Rai, learned counsel appearing on behalf of the appellant, strenuously argued that the High Court had fallen in error in holding that there was no clear admission by the defendant either regarding the existence of a relationship of landlord and tenant between the parties or the service of notice of termination of tenancy upon the defendant. He referred to the averments made in the plaint and the written statement to buttress his submission that the existence of the tenancy was unequivocally admitted, no matter the defendant-tenant had questioned the validity of the lease deed in her favour for want of stamp duty and registration as required under law. The fact that the lease deed was not registered did not, contended Mr. Rai, make any material difference so long that the defendant had been put in possession of the demised property pursuant to the said document and so long as she held the same as a tenant. The rate of rent was also not disputed by the defendant nor was the service of notice of termination, which aspects alone were relevant and if admitted or proved, sufficient for the Court to decree the suit for the relief of possession. Mr. Rai submitted that the defendant had no doubt disputed the title of plaintiff-appellant and alleged that the land underlying the super structure had vested in the Gram Sabha but any such contention was not available to her in view of Section 116 of the Indian Evidence Act, 1872 that estopped a tenant from denying the title of the landlord. Relying upon the decisions of this Court in Karam Kapahi v. Lal Chand Public Charitable Trust (2010) 4 SCC 753 and Charanjit Lal Mehra v. Kamal Saroj Mahajan (2005) 11 SCC 279, Mr. Rai argued that the High Court ought to have refused any interference with the decree passed by the Court below especially when no triable issue arose for determination by the trial Court.

5. On behalf of the respondent, it was argued that the High Court was justified in holding that the written statement did not contain a clear and unequivocal admission of the relevant aspects, namely the existence of the jural relationship of landlord and tenant between the parties and the termination of the tenancy by service of a notice under Section 106 of the Transfer of Property Act, 1882. According to him, the High Court was also justified in relying upon the decision of this Court in Jeevan Diesels & Electricals Ltd. v. Jasbir Singh Chadha (2010) 6 SCC 601 while reversing the judgment and decree passed by the Court below.

6. In a suit for recovery of possession from a tenant whose tenancy