2016 Supreme(AP) 257
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT HYDERABAD FOR THE STATE OF TELANGANA AND THE STATE OF ANDHRA PRADESH
M. SEETHARAMA MURTI, J.
Sayed Salimuddin & Another - Appellant
Versus
Abdul Kareem - Respondent
Civil Revision Petition No. 4189 of 2015
Decided on : 27-06-2016
For the Petitioners:Meka Rajasekhar Reddy, Advocate.
For the Respondent:K.L.N. Swamy, Advocate.
Headnote:
Tenancy and Land Law – Indian Evidence Act, 1872 – Section 116 – Constitution of India, 1950 – Article 227 – Lease Deed – Petitioner/plaintiff is a lease holder of premises with powers to sub-lease the property – While so respondents/defendants had obtained shop no.15 on lease from plaintiff vide lease deed for a term of three years, having paid Rs.6,00,000/- as deposit – Defendants had agreed to pay a monthly rent for running optical trade – Defendants changed the business to Car Accessories without the consent of the plaintiff – Defendants are running eatables business under the name and style Vegetable Nation. At the request of the defendants, the plaintiff had executed an annexure to the lease agreement – Defendants undertook to sell only bakery items, Tea, Coffee, Lebanese Sweet and confectionary, fruit cocktail, salad bar, sweet corn, pop corn, sugar candy, fruit juices, cool drinks and softy ice creams etcetera but not vegetable chat items and specially Chinese Food. But, defendants are carrying on business contrary to same and are violating terms – Held, present case is not a case where the original owner/original lessor is armed with the legal process for eviction, which cannot be resisted by the defendants/subtenants who are the tenants of plaintiff herein – Therefore attornment pleaded by defendants/sub-tenants is not under compulsion. Therefore, neither the plea of mere voluntary attornment urged by defendants/sub-tenants nor the plea of mere institution of suit for eviction against the plaintiff by the original owner/original lessor is of any avail to the defendants herein. Without discharging their statutory obligations towards their landlord/plaintiff herein, on the mere plea of voluntary attornment to the original Lessor and on mere fact that a suit for eviction was filed by the original lessor against the plaintiff/landlord, the defendants, who are the tenants of the plaintiff, cannot justify their theory that landlord and tenant relationship between the plaintiff and the defendants has come to an end on the voluntary attornment to the original owner/original lessor – For reasons aforementioned this Court holds that plaintiff had established prima facie the landlord and tenant relationship between the plaintiff and the defendants herein and made out valid and sufficient grounds to direct defendants to pay the monthly rents at the rate as admitted by them i.e., @ Rs.27,965/- per month from 01.03.2013 till 31.07.2015 and future rent – Petition is dismissed. (Paras 12, 13 and 14)
1. This Civil Revision Petition under Article 227 of the Constitution of India by the unsuccessful defendants/respondents is directed against the order dated 22.07.2015 of the learned I Senior Civil Judge, City Civil Court, at Hyderabad, passed in I.A.no.61 of 2014 in O.S.no.1620 of 2013 filed by the plaintiff/respondent herein under Order XV-A(2) of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 requesting to direct the defendants to pay to the plaintiff the arrears of rent as admitted at Rs.33,385/- per month from March, 2013 till November, 2013 together with service tax.
2. I have heard the submissions of the learned senior counsel appearing for both the parties. I have perused the material record.
3. The case of the plaintiff in support of the request in the aforesaid application, in brief, is this:
The petitioner/plaintiff (plaintiff, for brevity) is a lease holder of the premises bearing no.4-3-548/1, Boggulakunta of Hyderabad with powers to sub-lease the property. While so, the respondents/defendants (defendants, for brevity) had obtained shop no.15 on lease from the plaintiff vide lease deed dated 29.05.2002 for a term of three years, having paid Rs.6,00,000/- as deposit. The defendants had agreed to pay a monthly rent of Rs.4,500/- for running optical trade. However, the defendants changed the business to Car Accessories without the consent of the plaintiff. Presently, the defendants are running eatables business under the name and style Vegetable Nation. At the request of the defendants, the plaintiff had executed an annexure to the lease agreement. The defendants undertook to sell only bakery items, Tea, Coffee, Lebanese Sweet and confectionary, fruit cocktail, salad bar, sweet corn, pop corn, sugar candy, fruit juices, cool drinks and softy ice creams etcetera but not vegetable chat items and specially Chinese Food. But, the defendants are carrying on business contrary to the same and are violating the terms of the Annexure. While doing the business in the said shop no.15, the defendants had also obtained on lease mulgies bearing nos.15/A and 54 and agreed to pay monthly rents of Rs.1,500/- and Rs.15,000/- respectively. The defendants 1 and 2 had thereafter renewed the lease and are paying Rs.24,965/- towards rent in respect of shops nos.15, 15A and 54 and a sum of Rs.3,000/- per month towards use of the covered open space on the Western side of front shop no.15. Thus, the total monthly rent payable is Rs.27,965/-. Thus, the plaintiff is the landlord and the defendants are the tenants. The monthly rent as enhanced from 01.09.2012 is Rs.33,385/-. The said rent is exclusive of electricity charges, water charges and service tax. The total deposit made by the defendants with the plaintiff is Rs.9,75,000/- and it is an interest free deposit refundable to them on their vacating the property. As per the agreed terms of lease, the defendants have to pay the rent due in advance, i.e., on or before the 5th day of the month. However, the defendants are not paying the rents in time. They had committed defaults in payment of monthly rents since March 2013. The arrear of rent for the said period works out to Rs.2,67,080/- and the same is payable together with service tax amounting to Rs.33,011/-. The defendants are due to pay the arrears of rent from March 2013 till November2013, which comes to Rs.3,00,465/- together with Service Tax @ 12.36% amounting to Rs.37,137/-. Thus, the total amount due and payable by the defendants to the plaintiff is Rs.3,37,602/-. In spite of receiving legal notice, they did not pay the said amount and had also failed to vacate the property. The defendants are liable to pay the monthly rents from March 2013 till November 2013 as stated above. Hence, it is necessary to direct them to deposit the said sum together with service tax which comes to Rs.3,37,602/- to the plaintiff/landlord.
4. Per contra, the case of the defendants, in brief, is this:
The material allegations in the affidavit of the plaintiff are fa