SupremeToday Landscape Ad
Back
Next
Judicial Analysis Court Copy Headnote Facts Arguments Court observation
Listen Audio Icon Pause Audio Icon
judgment-img

2023 Supreme(Cal) 654

IN THE HIGH COURT AT CALCUTTA
KRISHNA RAO, J.
Poddar Projects Limited & Anr. - Plaintiff
Versus
Economic Transport Organization Ltd. – Defendant
IA No: GA 6 of 2019, (Old No: GA 2770 of 2019), In CS 142 of 2013
Decided On : 09-02-2023

Advocates Appeared:
For the Plaintiff : Mr. Debnath Ghosh, Mr. Avinash Kankani, Mr. Suman Majumder.
For the Defendant : Mr. Mainak Bose, Mr. Anurag Bagaria, Mr. Ratul Das, Mr. A. Agarwalla, Ms. D. Mukherjee, Ms. P. Gargain.

Headnote:

Civil Procedure Code, 1908 – Order 37 – Chapter XIIIA (B), Rule 6, 7 and 9 – West Bengal Premises Tenancy Act, 1997 – Transfer of Property Act, 1882 – Section 106 – Decree for eviction – Default of making payment – Duration of certain leases in absence of written contract or local usage – Held, In default of making payment of monthly occupational charges, for month or any of future monthly occupational charges, decree for khas possession shall automatically follow and for which there would be no need to apply afresh – In order passed by Hon’ble Supreme Court it was also clarified that payment made would abide by final outcome of suit – Court is of view that order passed by Hon’ble Supreme Court is not a conditional leave to defend suit – Hon’ble Supreme Court has passed order for ends of justice, if, defendant has chosen not to deposit said amount, same would be an additional ground for plaintiff during trial of suit – G.A. dismissed.

JUDGMENT :

(Krishna Rao, J.) :

1. The plaintiffs have filed the instant application for a direction to draw and complete the decree for eviction against the defendant as per the claim made by the plaintiff.

2. The plaintiffs have filed the suit against the defendant praying for following reliefs :

    “a) Decree of eviction and peaceful possession of the tenanted premises more fully described in Annexure “A” hereof;

b) Decree for mesne profits of Rs. 50/-per sq.ft. per day from 21st October, 2012 till the date of institution of the suit as pleaded in paragraph 24 above;

c) Decree for further mesne profits @ Rs. 50/-per sq. ft. per day from the date of institution of the suit till recovery of possession as pleaded in paragraph 24 above;

d) Receiver;

e) Injunction;

f) Costs;

g) Further and other reliefs.”

3. After filing of the suit, the plaintiffs have filed an application being G.A. No. 2883 of 2013 under Chapter XIIIA of the Original Side Rule of this Court seeking summary eviction of the defendant upon expiry of the notice period. The application filed by the plaintiffs was duly contested by the defendant and this court had disposed of G.A. No. 2883 of 2013 by an order dt. 28th February, 2017 by passing the following order :

    “The defendant is in possession of a very valuable property in the commercial hub of the city and is paying an mesne occupational charge at Rs.1/-per sft. per month which is extremely low compared to the occupational charges that the property is expected to earn. Since establishment of separate tenancies at the trial would make the notice under Section 106 of the Transfer of Property Act invalid, on the basis of the discussions made above, the defendant is entitled to conditional leave to defend. I, therefore, grant the defendant conditional leave to defend. The defendant upon payment of occupational charges @ Rs.4 lakh per month on and from March 2017 till the disposal of the suit shall be entitled to defend the suit. The occupational charge for the month of March 2017 shall be paid by 10th March 2017 and the future monthly occupational charges shall be paid by 10th day of each succeeding month. Upon payment of the occupational charges for the month of March 2017, the defendant shall be entitled to file written statement within a period of four weeks from that date. In default of making payment of the monthly occupational charge for the month of March 2017 or any of the future monthly occupational charges, the decree for khas possession shall automatically follow and for which there would be no need to apply afresh.

GA No. 2883 of 2013 and GA No. 2905 of 2013 accordingly stand disposed of.”

4. Being aggrieved with the order dt. 28th February, 2017, the defendant had preferred an appeal being APD No. 86 of 2017 and in the said appeal, the plaintiffs have preferred a cross objection against the said order. The appellate court had disposed of the appeal and cross objection by judgment dt. 22nd August, 2017. In the said appeal the appellate court held that the cross objection preferred by the plaintiffs is not maintainable and the allow the appeal preferred by the defendant by passing the following Judgment :

    “In conclusion, we find and hold that there is a good defence of the appellant/defendant for contesting the suit in trial and to use such defence, the appellant/defendant need not be burdened to pay a lumpsum of Rs. 4,00,000/-at monthly intervals. The impugned judgement is required to be modified and we do modify it upon granting unconditional leave in favour of appellant/ defendant to defend the suit. Accordingly, the appeal is allowed and cross-objection is dismissed as not maintainable in the light of our observations made in this judgement.”

5. The plaintiffs being aggrieved with the Judgment dt. 22nd August, 2017 had preferred a Special Leave Petition and the Hon’ble Supreme Court had disposed of the said SLP on 18th October, 2019 by passing the following order :

    “Having heard learned counsel for the p

            Click Here to Read the rest of this document
            1
            2
            3
            4
            5
            6
            7
            8
            9
            10
            11
            SupremeToday Portrait Ad
            supreme today icon
            logo-black

            An indispensable Tool for Legal Professionals, Endorsed by Various High Court and Judicial Officers

            Please visit our Training & Support
            Center or Contact Us for assistance

            qr

            Scan Me!

            India’s Legal research and Law Firm App, Download now!

            For Daily Legal Updates, Join us on :

            whatsapp-icon Back to top