IMPORTANT POINT
Attornment by lessee is not necessary for transfer of property leased out to him.

JUDGMENT :

C.T. Ravikumar, J.

1. Leave granted.

2. In this appeal by Special Leave the appellants assail the judgment and order dated 10.07.2018 in Civil Revision Petition No. 2752 of 2018 of the High Court of Judicature at Hyderabad for the State of Telangana and the State of Andhra Pradesh. It arises out of R.C. No. 262 of 2008 brought by the respondent herein under Section 10(2)(i), 10(2)(vi) and 10(3)(a) of the Andhra Pradesh Buildings (Lease, Rent and Eviction) Control Act, 1960 (for short “the Act”), for the eviction of appellant Nos. 2 & 3 herein and the other respondents therein, who are all the successors-in-interest of the original tenant Shri Balraj, being his wife and children, from the petition schedule property. The petition schedule property is a Mulgi (small shop), admeasuring 29 square yards, abutting main road of Mangalhat, Hyderabad. They were sought to be evicted on three-fold grounds viz., non-payment/default in payment of rent, [(S.10(2)(i)], tenant’s denial of the title of the landlord not being bonafide [(S.10(2)(vi)] and landlord’s right to be put in the possession of property for his own business use [(S.10(3)(a)].

3. As per the order in R.C. No.262 of 2008 dated 07.11.2015, it was allowed and the respondents therein were directed to vacate the petition schedule property and to handover its vacant physical possession to the petitioner therein (the respondent herein) within 3 months from the date of the order. The unsuccessful respondents therein took up the matter before the Appellate Authority, viz., Court of Chief Judge, City Small Causes Court at Hyderabad, as Rent Appeal No.57 of 2016. The Appellate Authority considered the grounds of attack and found them meritless and consequently, dismissed the appeal. It is aggrieved by the same that the stated Civil Revision Petition was filed before the High Court, which ultimately culminated in the impugned judgment.

4. As a matter of fact, pending the proceedings before the rent controller, the wife and two sons of Late Balraj, who were also arrayed as respondents along with the appellant Nos.2 and 3 herein, died. Later, during the pendency of the present SLP the original petitioner No.1, the other son of Late Balraj also died and subsequently, his legal heirs were brought on record as petitioner Nos. 1.1 and 1.2. The proforma respondents viz., respondents 2 to 4 were deleted from the array of parties, at the instance of the appellants, as per order dated 11.10.2015 passed in I.A. No. 147594 of 2018. Thus, the present proceedings are being pressed into and pursued by the original petitioner Nos. 2 & 3 and the other petitioner Nos.1.1 and 1.2, who are the legal heirs of original petitioner No.1, in the present SLP. Hence, hereinafter, in this appeal they would be referred to as ‘the appellants’ and the petitioner in R.C. No.262 of 2008, who is the respondent in this appeal, would be referred to as ‘the respondent’, unless otherwise mentioned specifically.

5. Succinctly stated the case of the respondent (the petitioner in RC No. 262 of 2008) is as follows: -

The petition schedule property is a small shop (Mulgi) bearing Municipal D. No. 14-1-22 as described hereinbefore. One Smt. Phool Kumari was its owner. She was the original landlord and late Shri Bhandari Balraj (the predecessor-in-interest of the appellants) was the tenant, of the said shop. In the year 1985, the father of the respondent by name Vasudev Vyas purchased the petition schedule property from the aforesaid Smt. Phool Kumari in the name of the respondent Ballabh Vyas, then a minor aged 10 years, under Ex.P-3 registered sale deed dated 27.06.1985. The pre-existing tenancy created between late Sh. Balraj and the said original landlord was oral in nature and the rent initially fixed was enhanced from time to time. On 27.06.1985 itself Ext. P-1 rental deed was executed between Late Sh. Balraj and the respondent, represented by his natural father and guardian Vasudev Vyas, on a monthly rent of Rs.300/-per