Sec. 15 of the Bihar Buildings (Lease, Rent and Eviction) Control Act, 1982 applies to suits tried under sec. 14 of the Act, but only to the extent that it applies to the grounds for eviction provided under sec. 11 of the Act. The claim for arrears of rent and the claim for current rent are distinct and severable, and the court can order payment of current rent even in a suit tried under sec. 14 of the Act.

1. This is an application by a tenant assailing the order passed by the trial Court in a suit for eviction on the ground available to the plaintiff under sec. 11 of the Bihar Buildings (Lease, Rent and Eviction) Control Act, 1982, (hereinafter referred to as the Act) and being tried under the special procedure provided under sec. 14 of the Act.

2. The Court below has disposed of an application by the plaintiff-landlord under sec. 15 of the Act and has directed the payment of arrears of rent and current rent with the consequences mentioned in S. 15 of the Act on default of compliance of the order.

3. Mr. Kalika Nandan, learned counsel for the petitioner, has submitted that sec. 14 of the Act, being a special procedure, under which the claim of arrears of rent cannot be claimed, relief under sec. 15 of the Act cannot be granted. He has also relied on sec. 13 of the Act which protects sec. 14 from the effect of other enactments and the other clauses of the Act itself. Mr. Kalika Nandan further submitted that since no claim for arrears of rent has been made in the plaint of the suit and it has been specifically stated that a fresh suit for that purpose shall be filed, the defendant could not state his stand with regard to that claim. Further, if the landlord withdrew the amount and it was subsequently found that there were no arrears, the tenant will be faced with numerous procedural wrangles in obtaining the refund of the money so taken away by the plaintiff.

4. Mr. Guneshwar Prasad, learned counsel appearing on behalf of the landlord opposite party, submitted that sec. 15 of the Act has used the expression that if a landlord files a suit for recovery of possession of the tenanted property and the ejectment is contested by the tenant, then certain rights are bestowed upon the plaintiff under that section which means that sec. 15 of the Act is very wide in its amplitude and covers all the grounds for eviction provided under sec. 11 and is not controlled by special procedure provided under sec. 14 of the Act. In my view, if sec. 15 of the Act is stretched in its application, as interpreted by the learned counsel for the opposite party, it will lead to certain ridiculous anomalies. In other words, the Court would be entitled to order payment of arrears even where no arrears can be claimed in law and the matter is being tried under the procedure prescribed under sec. 14 of the Act which does not deal with recovery of arrears of rent and is only restricted to two of the several grounds available to the landlord for evicting a tenant under sec. 11 of the Act. The legal situation cannot be disputed even in a suit for eviction for default. If no arrears of rent are claimed relief under sec. 15 of the Act is not available to the landlord. This principle will apply more so in a proceeding under sec. 14 of the Act where no such relief can be claimed in law. The matter does not, however, rest there. The question of payment of current rent during the pendency of the suit is also a matter in issue and for that purpose and to that extent sec. 15 still applies to suits being tried under sec. 14 of the Act.

5. Harmonising the provisions of sections 14 and 15 of the Act, therefore, I feel that though the Court is precluded from ordering payment of arrears, it can direct the payment of current rent as envisaged in sec. 15 of the Act, because in clause 15(1) of the Act, payments of current rent and arrears have been separated. That clause may be usefully set out as follows :-

"15(1). If, in a suit for recovery of possession of any building, the tenant contests the suit as regards claim for ejectment, landlord may move an application at any stage of the suit for order on the tenant to deposit rent month by month at a rate at which it was last paid and also, subject to the law of limitation, the arrears of rent, if any, and the Court after giving opportunity to the parties to be heard, may make any order for deposit of rent month by month at s