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1988 Supreme(Bom) 321

IN THE HIGH COURT OF BOMBAY
Sharad Manohar, J.
M.S. Shastri ... Petitioner.
Versus
Hilla M. Batliwalla others ... Respondents.
Writ Petition No. 1362 of 1986, decided on 20/21-9-1988.
Advocates appeared :
V.T. Walavalkar with K.Y. Mandlik for petitioner.
M.A. Rane, for respondent No. 1.

Headnote:BANKERS BOOKS EVIDENCE ACT, 1891

       Section 4 -Account book - Entries-Admissibility-Applicability-Held Relience upon Section 4 is mis-placed-Evidence showing entries cannot be true at all.

       The section in terms state that the entries in the Books of Account shall be prima facie evidence not only of the existence of such entries and that shall be admitted as evidence of matters, transactions and accounts therein recorded. But the point is that in the present case the entry made in the pass-book of defendant No. 2s wife will not fasten liability of the payment upon the landlady. Moreover, if there is entry in one pass-book showing debit to the plaintiff/landlady, the landladys pass-book should show a corresponding entry. But there is no corresponding credit entry. Above all, the point is that there is any amount of ponderous evidence showing that these entries cannot be true at all. Reliance upon this Section 4

        is quite mis-placed.

       Section 12 (3) (a)-Eviction- Decree -Notice under Section 12 (2)Tenant in rental arrears-On receipt of notice, paying few months rent-Held -A mere part payment by tenant cannot be taken-Must pay whole amount of arrears of rent- Decree by lower cannot be interfered.

       If the arrears were of 7 months, totaling upto Rs. 63,00/- and if the tenant had paid only Rs. 2700/- it was a case of short-payment and the land lady was not bound to accept the same and in support of the same he relied upon the judgment in the case of Nandlal Topandas v. R. K. Joshi, 76 Bombay Law Reporter 703. It has been held in that case as fallows:

       "A tenant who is in arrears of rent for a period of six months or more and on whom a notice under sub-section (2) of Section 12 of the Bombay Rents, Hotel and Lodging House Rates Control Act, 1947 has been served should, within the statutory period, make payment of the whole amount of arrears of rent demanded in such notice. A mere part payment by a tenant of such arrears of rent so as to reduce the same to less than six months will not take out the case from the purview of sub-section (3)(a) of Section 12 of the Act."

       If, there were arrears of rent exceeding 6 months, the decree for eviction was inevitable. It is a correct statement of law on the part of the Counsel. In this view of the matter, the decree for eviction passed by the lower Court cannot be interfered with,

JUDGMENT - SHARAD MANOHAR, J.:---The main question involved in this writ petition is nothing but arithmetical calculation. There are other questions involved, but the petition is capable of being decided even without deciding those questions. However, it is also true that if those question are decided in favour of the respondent landlady, then on these questions as well, all by themselves, the present petition is capable of being decided against the present petitioner.

2. I will first state the skeletal facts necessary for formulating the questions arising in the petition.

(A) The dispute relates to a three bed-room Flat, admeasuring about 1500 sq.ft. It includes also a garage on the ground floor. There is no dispute that the flat is in a building belonging to the Co-operative Housing Society and that it belongs to the respondent (who will be referred to hereafter as the Landlady). Admittedly M/s. Kailas Castings Pvt. Ltd., (who will be referred to as defendant No. 1) entered into agreement of leave and licence with the landlady for occupation of the Flat (hereafter the suit premises) on the payment of monthly compensation of Rs. 900/- The Agreement was signed by M. S. Shastri, the present petitioner (hereafter, referred to as defendant No. 2 as the Director of the Company. The Agreement was for a period of 11 months. But there is no dispute that it was renewed from time to time and every time the terms and conditions continued. Likewise, the Agreement continued to be signed by defendant No. 2 as the Director. The Agreement provided that defendant No. 1 Company would use the premises for residence of the officers of the Company. There is further no dispute that is fact defendant No. 2 was in occupation of the same. The landlady's contention is that defendant No. 2 was in occupation as the officer of the Company, whereas defendant No. 2 contends that he himself was the licensee or tenant and not defendant No. 1.

(B) There is further no dispute that on 1-2-1973 all the licensees got the status of a deemed tenant or protected licensee as per the amendment of the Rent Act which was brought on the statute book with effect from 1-2-1973. There is further no dispute that having regard to the position emanating from the amendment, the landlady accepted the licensee as the deemed tenant or protected licensee as provided by the Act and hence, there is no dispute that whosoever is the licensee or the deemed tenant is entitled to get protection of the Act and, is, likewise, subject to the liabilities emanating from the Act and to the obligations flowing from the Act.

(C) Irrespective of the question as to who, between defendant No. 1 defendant No. 2, was the deemed tenant or a protected licensee of the suit premises, fact remains that according to the landlady the tenant concerned had committed defaults in the payment of rent and, that hence, she gave a notice on 22-11-1978 calling upon defendant No. 1 to make payment of all the arrears of rent which, according to her, had become payable from1st April, 1978, meaning thereby that the tenant concerned had committed default in the payment of rent from 1st April 1978. To be more precise the contention of the landlady has been that the tenant concerned had paid the rent till 31st March, 1978 at the rate of Rs. 900/- per month, but had not paid any rent for any subsequent period. To this Notice, no reply was given either by defendant No. 1 or defendant No. 2. But somewhat surprisingly, a cheque for the rent of Rs. 900/- was sent on 27th November, 1978. There was a forwarding letter which mentioned that the cheque for Rs. 900/- was sent for the rent for the month of October 1978 and, undisputedly, the landlady was directed to credit that rent for October 1978 only. Likewise, in the month of December, a cheque dated 28th December, 1978 was sent by defendant No. 2 to the landlady for Rs. 1800/- and the forwarding letter specifically mentioned that the amount was sent for being credited towards























































































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