The appellant is a lessee in respect of a three storied building bearing Door No.5-408 of Ongole Town, owned by the respondents. The lease commenced in May, 2006 with a monthly rent of Rs.50,000/-. The respondents got issued notice, dated 29.03.2007, requiring the appellant to vacate the premises, on the ground that the rents for the period between October, 2006 and November, 2007, were not paid. Thereafter, correspondence ensued between the parties. The respondents, ultimately, filed O.S.No.4 of 2008 in the Court of Additional Senior Civil Judge, Ongole, for the relief of recovery of possession of the suit schedule property. The suit has since been transferred to the Court of VII Additional District Judge, Ongole, and renumbered as O.S.No.105 of 2010.

The respondents filed I.A.No.42 of 2008 under Rule 1 of Order XVA C.P.C. (in its application to the State of Andhra Pradesh) with a prayer to direct the appellant herein to deposit the arrears of rent. The appellant contested the application by stating that a sum of Rs.2,55,000/- was already paid as advance. Other relevant factors were also pleaded. The trial Court passed an order, dated 26.06.2009, in that I.A., by directing the appellant to deposit a sum of Rs.10,50,000/-, as arrears upto June, 2008, after deducting Rs.2,55,000/- already deposited into the Court, within 30 days. Further, a direction was issued to deposit monthly rents from time to time, till the disposal of the suit. Thereafter, several applications were filed by the parties either for extension of the time or for striking off the defence and orders of different purport were passed.

The respondents filed I.A.No.479 of 2010 under Rule 6 of Order XII read with Rule 1 of Order XV(1)(A) and under Section 151 C.P.C. with a prayer to strike off the defence of the appellant herein and to render the judgment as provided for under Rule 6 of Order XII C.P.C. I.A.No.480 of 2010 was filed under Section 151 C.P.C. with a prayer to direct the appellant herein to submit the returns in Form 16-A under Section 203 of the Income Tax Act. The appellant opposed both the applications by raising various grounds of fact and law. Through a common order dated 16.03.2011, the trial Court allowed both the applications and had struck off the defence of the appellant. Simultaneously, it had decreed the suit, through a judgment running into few lines, directing the appellant to vacate the premises within 30 days from the date of the decree. Hence, this appeal.

Sri Y.V.Ravi Prasad, learned counsel for the appellant, submits that the trial Court committed errors of fact and law in decreeing the suit. He contends that an application under Rule 1 of Order XVA C.P.C. was filed by the respondents, and in compliance with the orders passed therein, the rents are being deposited from time to time. He submits that there was no justification or basis for filing an application by invoking two different provisions, namely, Rule 6 of Order XII and Rule 1 of Order XVA C.P.C. According to him, these provisions operate in different fields, and there does not exist any scope for applying both the provisions for one and the same situation. Learned counsel further submits that the admission contemplated under Rule 6 of Order XII C.P.C. must be unequivocal either in the pleadings or in the course of trial and that no such admission ensued in the instant case.

Learned counsel further contends that even where a defendant remains ex parte, the trial Court is under obligation to render judgment on merits, and that the decree passed by the trial Court is contrary to the judgment rendered by the Hon’ble Surepeme Court in Balraj Taneja v. Sunil Madan AIR 1999 SC 3381, which, in turn, was followed by this Court in Kedarisetti Atmaram v. N.Seetharama Raju 2011 (1) ALD 426. He further submits that in a suit filed for the relief of eviction by invoking Section 106 of the Transfer of Property Act, the existence or otherwise of arrears of rent, hardly matters an