The late payment of rent should not be willful or contumacious, and a tenant guilty of willful and deliberate default is not entitled to the protective umbrella of the DRCA.

INDERMEET KAUR, J

1. Order impugned before this Court is the order dated 07.9.2007 passed by the Additional Rent Control Tribunal (ARCT) endorsing the finding of the Additional Rent Controller (ARC) dated 13.7.2007 whereby the delay in the deposit of rent by the tenant had been condoned and benefit of Section 14(2) of the DRCA had been extended to the tenant.

2. Petitioner Balwanti Devi is the landlady of property bearing No.10/18, Shankti Nagar, New Delhi. Mohan Lal Chopra was inducted as a tenant in the said premises initially at a rent of Rs.25/-per month which was subsequently increased to Rs.30/-per month. After the death of Mohan Lal Chopra his legal heir Mahesh Kumar Chopra became a tenant and he started paying the rent to the landlord. He paid rent up to 31.3.1994 and thereafter did not pay rent. Demand notice dated 26.3.2003 was served upon the tenant to which no reply was filed. Eviction petition bearing no.916/2003 was filed; on 12.2.2004 an order under Section 15(1) of the Delhi Rent Control Act (hereinafter referred to as the DRCA) was passed by the ARC and the tenant was directed to pay the arrears of rent w.e.f. 01.8.2000 till 31.01.2004 @ Rs.30/-per month which was modified vide order dated 13.7.2007 vide which the tenant was directed to deposit rent @ Rs.33/-per month w.e.f. 01.5.2003. The Rent Controller after consideration of the report of the Nazir had noted that rent for the month of March 2004 was deposited after a delay of five days; for the month of December 2004 after one month and six days and rent for the month of January 2005 was deposited late by six days. He condoned this delay and gave the benefit of Section 14(2) of the DRCA to the tenant.

3. The landlord was not satisfied with this order passed by the ARC. He preferred an appeal before the RCT who dismissed his plea on 07.9.2007 endorsing the finding of the ARC. This judgment is the subject matter of the present proceedings.

4. On behalf of the petitioner, it is pointed out that the rent which is payable by a tenant, if it is a delayed payment the quotient of interest has to be included and forms a part and parcel of the rent; in this case there has admittedly been a delay on the part of the tenant in the deposit of rent. This has been noted by both the courts below; the discretion exercised by the ARC in condoning the delay is arbitrary; attention has been drawn to the order passed by the ARC as also by the ARCT; submission being that no reasoned finding was given by either of the two courts below. To support this submission learned counsel for the plaintiff placed reliance upon a judgment of a Bench of this Court reported in 170(2010) DLT 134 Puneet Bajaj Vs. Baldev Kumar Pahwa ; contention being reiterated that delayed payment of rent has to be accompanied with interest as stipulated under section 26(1) of the DRCA. Further submission of the petitioner being that the provisions of DRCA are a beneficial legislation for the tenant and if he wants to seek the protective umbrella of the said legislation he must strictly comply with the provisions, in the absence of which such a protection cannot be afforded to him. To support this submission reliance has been placed upon a judgment of the Apex Court reported in 123 (2005) DLT 127 (SC) Atma Ram Vs. Shakuntala Rani; submission being that the conditions precedent required to be fulfilled by the tenant which in this case would be the payment of rent in time which admittedly not having been paid in time, benefit of the strict provisions of the DRCA cannot be taken advantage of by such a litigant.

5. The present petition is a petition under Section 14(1)(a) of the DRCA. The scheme of the DRCA encompasses that a ground of eviction is available to a landlord in case the tenant does not pay the rent which is legally recoverable from him within the prescribed period; in the absence of a contract to the contrary this payment has to be made by the 15th day of each succeeding month. It is only in a ca