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1995 Supreme(Del) 701

High Court Of Delhi
SWARN KANTA MEHRA - Appellant
Versus
VINAY KUMAR MAHENDRA - Respondent
SECOND APPEAL 177 of 1986
Decided On : 09/06/1995

Advocates Appeared:
P.K.AGRAWAL, V.K.Jaitley, Vijay Kishan

Headnote:Civil Procedure Code 1908 - Section 148-A — Caveat — Effect of filing-It only confers a right of hearing on the caveater but it confers no right if the legislature provided for no hearing before the action contemplated-A tenant can not claim a right to object to an application of the landlord under Section 21 of Delhi Rent Control Act 1958 for restoration of possession by mere filing of a caveat.

       Delhi Rent Control Act 1958 - Section 21 — Effect of-A tenant has no right to receive notice of the application filed by the landlord for recovery of the possession, after the end of limited tenancy — Filing of caveat confers no right of hearing on the tenant nor it extends the time for filing the objections.

        Section 21 — Objections to the application for restoration of possession — Limitation for filing of the objections — Absence of any prescribed period in the rules indicate that the legislature did not envisaged such eventuality — The tenant can not wait till the expiry of the period of tenancy to file the objections — The objections have no relevance to the application of the landlord for restoration of possession.

       Section 21-Objection to the restoration of possession — Statement of the land lady made at the time of creation of tenancy assailed on the ground of concealment and misrepresentation — Silence or non-disclosure of non-essential fact does not amount to misrepresentation — The tenant unconditionally undertaking to vacate the premises after expiry of the period of limited tenancy — The tenant can not resist the application for restoration of possession on the ground of fraud — Eviction upheld.

        Section 21-Tenancy — Limited tenancy created thereunder — Increase of rent does not bring into existence a new tenancy between the parties .

       Held:

       Section 21 of the Act is a self contained Code, it contains its own conditions and procedure. The rules to which the section makes reference prescribe a period of limitation of six months after expiry of period of limited tenancy for the landlord to approach the Controller for being restored possession of the premises in view of failure of the tenant to comply with the condition of limited tenancy by handing over possession of the premises on the expiry of period of lease. No period is prescribed for the tenant to approach the Controller by way of objections against the order granting permission for limited tenancy. This is so for the obvious reason that Section 21 does not envisage a situation where a tenant does not comply with the order granting limited tenancy. The legislature never intended that the tenant should have any option but to hand over possession of the premises to the landlord on the expiry of the limited tenancy. Any ifs or buts by the tenant after expiry of lease so as to deprive the landlord of possession of premises defeat the very object of Section 21.

       The tenant has no right to file any objections. He must obey his commitment in judicial proceedings as sanctified by the order of the Controller. The tenant has no right to be heard. The only limited fight that the tenant has is to challenge the order of the Controller granting permission under Section 21 of the Act and that too on the ground which render the order of the Controller without jurisdiction. When the nature of the right of the tenant is only in relation to the facts obtaining at the time of grant of permission, the tenant cannot be permitted to wait till the expiry of the entire period of limited tenancy and set up his challenge at the time of application of the landlord for restoration of possession on account of failure of the tenant to comply with the order granting limited tenancy. The challenge of the tenant has no relation to this stage, i.e. the stage of application of the landlord for restoration of possession.

Arun Kumar, J.

( 1 ) THIS is yet another case in which inspite of the fact that the premises was let out under Section 21 of the Delhi Rent Control Act (hereinafter referred to as the Act), after obtaining permission of the Controller, the respondent/tenant has continued in possession of the premises till date though the period of limited tenancy expired on 30th April 1983.

( 2 ). Briefly the facts are that the appellant is the owner/landlady of a double storey house bearing No. G-211, Naraina Residential Scheme, Naraina Vihar, New Delhi. The appellant was occupying the first floor of the said property. She applied to the Controller on 20th April 1979 under Section 21 of the Act for permission to let out the ground floor of the said property at a monthly rent of Rs. 1150. 00 exclusive of water and electricity charges for residential purposes to the respondent with effect from the date of permission for a period of four years. On 26th April 1979 statements of the appellant as well as the respondent were recorded by the Controller and by an order passed on the said date, the Controller granted permission under Section 21 of the Act to the appellant to let out ground floor of her said property comprising of drawing-dining room, three bedrooms, kitchen, two attached bath rooms, court-yard, as shown in the site plan Ex. A- 1, to the respondent for residential purposes for a limited period of four years w. e. f. 1st May 1979. The respondent started residing in the premises in pursuance of the said permission granted by the Controller. On 23rd January 1983 a notice was sent by the appellant landlady to the respondent for vacation of the tenancy premises on expiry of the limited tenancy. Another notice was sent by the landlady on 9th April 1983 to the respondent calling upon the respondent to vacate the premises on expiry of the limited tenancy. The lease was to expire on 30th April 1983. The respondent did not vacate the premises by the said date. On 3rd May 1994, the appellant landlady filed an application for purposes of restoration of the possession of the premises in question to her in view of failure of the respondent to hand over vacant possession of the premises after the expiry of limited tenancy. In pursuance of the notice of the application served on the respondent, he filed objections on 12th August 1983. The objections were amended by the respondent and amended objections were filed on 22nd March 1985. The Addl. Rent Controller dismissed the application of the landlady on 12th April 1985 upholding the objections filed by the respondent/tenant. At this stage the main objections of the respondent/tenant may be noted. These are:-

(A)THE agreed rent of Rs. 1150. 00 per month was increased to Rs. 1300. 00 per month, after expiry of two years of the lease period. This gave rise to a fresh tenancy and the limited tenancy granted under the permission of the Controller lost all its relevance. (b)the landlady played a fraud at the time of seeking permission of the Controller in as much as the reason that she gave for creation of limited tenancy turned out to be false. The landlady had stated that her younger sister had gone to New York. She will return after four years and the premises will be required then. It transpired at the stage of evidence on the objections filed by the tenant that the landlady had no younger sister at all. According to the landlady what she meant was the younger sister of her husband who was actually in New York and wanted to return to India and reside in the premises in question on her return.

( 3 ). The appellant landlady filed an appeal against the order of the Addl. Rent Controller which met the same fate. It was dismissed by the Rent Control Tribunal vide its impugned judgment dated 23rd November 1985. The Tribunal decided the first objection against the tenant, i. e. the finding of the Addl. Rent Controller that increase in rent gave rise to a fresh tenancy was set aside and it was held that this did n













































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