PATNA HIGH COURT
Hari Lal Agrawal and Nazir Ahmad JJ.
Tip Top, M/s.
Versus
Indramani Devi
Appeal from Original Decree No. 219 of 1970 ;
Decided On : JANUARY 15, 1982
Bihar Building (Lease Rent & Eviction) Control Act, 1947, Sec. 11 (1) (d) - Bihar & Orissa Municipal Act, Secs. 100, 134 & 135 a landlord may have a right to recover from the tenant all payments of latrines and water tax but their failure to pay formed independent cause of action and can not be termed as a default in payment of monthly rent attracting section 11(1) (d) of the B.B.C. Act. (Para 13)
Bihar Buildings (Lease, Rent & Eviction) Control Act, 1947, Sec. 11(1) (d) & 13 (1)-Remittance of rent by money order on refusal by the landlord to accept is under the statute and tender within the stipulated period to the postal authority is valid tender-Remittances being under the general law the remitted rent must reach the landlord within the stipulated period and any delay may occasion eviction. (Paras 14 & 17)
Bihar Buildings (Lease, Rent & Eviction) Control Act, Sec.3-Contract Act, Sec. 23-T.P. Act, Sec. 58-Deed purporting to be mortgage can be examined by the Court to tear the veil to know the real intention of the parties-Any payment received in excess of the provisions of section 3 of the BBC Act is hit by section 23 Contract Act and eviction can be based on such a transaction. (Paras 18 & 19)
Bihar Buildings (Lease, Rent & Eviction) Control Act, 1947, Sec. 11 (1) (c)-Where the landlord establishes his personal necessity then the law gives him the choice of selection of most suitable accommodation which may suit him according to the fact, of each Case. (Para 24)
Bihar Buildings (Lease, Rent & Eviction) Control Act, 1947, Sec. 11 (1) (a)-Tenant agreeing to pay municipal taxes-Parties acting on such agreement-Distinction between condition and Stipulation loses its condition attracting the section. (Para 25)
HARI LAL AGRAWAL, J.
1. This is an appeal by the defendants against the judgement and decree of the Additional Subordinate Judge, Ranchi, decreeing the plaintiffs suit in part directing the defendants to vacate the suit premises.
2. The property in suit consists of two shop units, Nos. A and B out of the block of six shop rooms in J.J. Park along with the adjoining lands and structures at its back being part of plot No.1772, holding No.420 in Ward No.III of the Ranchi Municipality, which is fully described in the schedule of the plaint, in which the defendants are running a laundry business commonly known as Messrs Tip Top. The defendants were in occupation of the suit premises since a year before the execution of a document forming the basis of the present suit which was executed on 10-9-1958 and has been marked as Ext.2. The document has been described as a usufructuary mortgage bond or Bhugutbandha bond. According to the stipulations in this document, the mortgages, namely, the defendants, were to remain in possession of the suit premises from 13-9-1958 for a period of five years. I shall refer to the stipulations and the covenants evidenced under this document in greater detail later, but at the outset I may indicate that the plaintiff instituted the suit for recovery of khas possession of the suit properties as mortgagor on the expiry of the period of the usufructuary mortgagee, with mesne profits from the period 13-9-1963. Alternatively, the plaintiff pleaded that in case the transaction evidenced by the mortgage bond was treated as a lease then even in that case it was for a fixed period of live years which stood terminated by efflux of time on 12-9-1963 and, therefore, the plaintiff became entitled to recover possession thereof with mesne profits. A money decree for Rupees 2,750.00 on account of arrears of rent inclusive of taxes was also claimed in the alternative, representing the arrears of rent amounting to Rs. 2175/- and Rs. 575/- on account of municipal taxes for the period after 23-3-1964. Yet another alternative plea was advanced in the plaint to the effect that in case the transaction is deemed to have created only a monthly tenancy, then even the defendants were liable to vacate the premises on the grounds of (1) personal necessity of the plaintiff-landlady, namely, for setting up her sons in business who had come of age and were sitting idle without any occupation, the family being a trading one, and, (2) the defendants being defaulters having not paid any amount for the period after 12-9-1963. Some other grounds of creating nuisance by flowing foul water in the adjoining area etc. were also urged, but the same were not established and have not been pressed in this Court either.
3. One written statement was filed by defendants Nos.1, 2, 4 and 5 and another by defendant No.3, followed by an additional written statement. The relevant pleas of defence with which we are concerned in this appeal are that the defendants were in possession of the premises as monthly tenants and the mortgage deed in question (Ext.2) was executed in order to defeat the provisions of law, namely, the Bihar Buildings (Lease, Rent and Eviction) Control Act, 1947 and, therefore, their possession was neither of mortgagees nor lessees for any fixed period. They also disputed the grounds of their eviction indicated above, namely, defaults in payment of rent or requirement of the premises for occupation by the plaintiff in good faith.
4. The trial court framed various issues and the relevant of them were issues Nos.6, 7 and 8 which read as follows :-
"6. Was the nature of possession of the defdts. over the suit premises on the basis of the deed (dated) 10-9-1958 as mortgagees or tenants for fixed period or as tenants from month to month during the period of the deed and after expiry of the same?
7. Are the defendants liable to be evicted from the suit premises on the primary ground of being trespassers or on any of the alternative gr
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