Once a tenant has acquired vacant possession of a residence, the protection of the Delhi Rent Control Act, 1958, is lost forever and cannot be revived.

ORDER :- This is an application by the defendant under Order 1, Rule 10 of the Code of Civil Procedure seeking to implead Major Shankar Bhaduri and Mrs. Madhuchanda Haldar as co-defendants on the ground that their presence is necessary to enable the Court to effectively and completely adjudicate upon the matters in dispute in this suit.

2. The application is being resisted by the plaintiff on the ground that the said two persons, sought to be impleaded as defendants, though son and daughter respectively of the defendant, yet are strangers to the agreement to sell house No. C-189, Defence Colony, New Delhi, entered into on 30th November, 1978, between the parties. Their presence, it is urged, is not at all necessary to adjudicate upon the questions arising in this suit for specific performance of that agreement.

3. In order to decide this application it is necessary to give a brief resume of the facts of this case. The plaintiff was occupying the ground floor of house No. C-189, Defence Colony, New Delhi as a tenant under the defendant Smt. Anjali Bhaduri for the last about 18 years on a monthly rent of Rs. 325/-. Some time in the month of November, 1978, it was agreed between the parties that the defendant will sell and the plaintiff will buy the said house for a consideration of Rs. 2,85,000/-. An agreement to sell the said property was executed on 30th November, 1978. In pursuance of the agreement a sum of Rs. 5,000/- vide cheque No. 17483984 drawn on the United Commercial Bank, Defence Colony, New Delhi, was paid to the defendant. The balance price of Rs. 2,80,000/- was to be paid to the defendant at the time of registration of the sale deed. It is averred that the defendant had accepted the cheque in part payment of the sale price.

4. The allegation of the plaintiff is that as the defendant had been offered more money for the property in dispute, she wants to (resile) from the agreement although she has accepted part payment towards the price of the house. With that object in view she wrote to the plaintiff on 27th Jan., 1979, stating that she was not the owner of the property; that the property was built by her with the funds left by her late husband and therefore her children had an interest in the same. Hence, this suit for specific performance against the defendant who is stated to be the sole owner of the property agreed to be sold.

5. During admission and denial of documents filed by the parties the defendant had admitted the execution of the agreement dated 30th November, 1978. Before settlement of the issues it was considered necessary to record the statement of the defendant. On 6th Feb., 1981, she made the following statement :

"The house in question bearing No. C-189, Defence Colony, New Delhi, stands in my name. I pay the house tax. The entry regarding the ownership in the records of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi is in my name. I constructed this house in the year 1960. I had let out this house in the year 1960. I know the plaintiff. He was my tenant on the ground floor of the said house. I had entered into an agreement with the plaintiff on 30th Nov., 1978, to sell that house. That agreement is Ex. P-1. Exhibit P-2 is the certified copy of the lease-deed dated 27th Dec., 1957, relating to the plot of the said house. Since 1960, the rental income derived from this house was being shown as my personal income. My children were minor at that time. All the income which was derived from that house was spent on their up-keep as well."

The plaintiff also made a statement on that date. It is in these words :

"I am prepared to buy the property, subject-matter of the suit whatever be the defect in the title, if any, of the defendant and even if the property is not vacated by the tenant occupying the first floor of the property.

I did receive a notice from the defendant stating that she was not the only owner but this was after two months of the date of the said agreement, Ex. P-1. The cheque of Rs. 5,000/- which