Adherence to procedural requirements within the stipulated time period and the demonstration of reasons beyond the petitioner's control for any delay in fulfilling such requirements.

JUDGMENT

Subramonium Prasad, J. (Oral)--The instant Revision Petition has been filed against the Order dated 09.08.2019, passed by the learned ACJ-CCJ-ARC, Shahadara, Karkardooma Courts, Delhi, in ARC No.128/2018.

2. The facts leading to the instant revision petition, shorn of unnecessary details, are that an Eviction Petition had been filed by the Respondent herein under Section 14(1)(e) of the Delhi Rent Control Act, 1958, in respect of a shop located on the ground floor of property bearing no. 9/668, Subhash Nagar, Gandhi Nagar, Delhi-110031.

3. It is stated that in pursuance of the summons served on the Petitioner herein on 18.05.2018 after the filing of the said Eviction Petition, the Petitioner herein filed his application seeking leave to defend on 31.05.2018, i.e. within the prescribed period of 14 days, however, the affidavit filed alongside the application was unattested. Accordingly, time was granted to the Petitioner herein to the file attested affidavit within the period of limitation, but the same was not filed even till the next date of hearing in the Eviction Petition, i.e. 12.09.2018.

4. Noting the fact that ample opportunity had been given to the Petitioner herein to file the attested affidavit along with the leave to defend application and that no cogent reasons had been provided to justify the delay of 5 months, the Ld. Trial Court proceeded to dismiss the Petitioner's application seeking leave to defend and allowed the Eviction Petition filed by the Respondent herein vide impugned Order dated 09.08.2019. Aggrieved by the same, the Petitioner herein has approached this Court by way of the instant revision petition.

5. Learned Counsel for the Petitioner relies on a judgment passed by this Court in Alka Kasana v. Indian Institute of Technology, 222(2015) DLT 473, wherein this Court has held that filing an affidavit which is not attested is a curable defect, and that object of prescribing procedure is to advance the cause of justice. Learned counsel for the Petitioner further submits that the position of law has changed inasmuch the Division Bench of this Court in RC.REV. 279/2014, by a judgment dated 29.11.2019 titled as Director Directorate of Education & Anr. v. Mohd. Shamim & Ors., has held that a tenant can be permitted to file an application for leave to defend beyond the period prescribed if proper reasons are given to substantiate such delay.

6. Per contra, learned Counsel for the Respondent relies on a judgment dated 12.03.2012, passed by this Court in R.C.R. No. 62/2010 titled as Rakesh Gupta & Anr. v. Ashok Dilwali, wherein this Court has held that filing an unattested affidavit with an application for leave to defend is not a curable defect and leave to defend cannot be granted. The reason given in the said judgment was that permitting attestation after filing an application with an affidavit which is not attested would amount to extending the period for filing the leave to defend application which is not permissible under law, and therefore, filing of an unattested affidavit amounts to non-filing of affidavit on record.

7. The short question which arises in this case is whether an application for leave to defend which has been filed with an affidavit that has not been duly attested in accordance with law can be entertained and whether the application for leave to defend should be dismissed on this ground alone without giving an opportunity to the tenant to cure the defects.

8. Chapter III of the Delhi Rent Controller Act, 1958, was introduced with the object of ensuring that a landlord who requires his premises for bona fide purposes should not be forced to endure a long trials because of which the bona fide need may itself cease to exist or certain events may transpire that would render the entire procedure redundant. The Apex Court in Ravi Datt Sharma v. Ratan Lal Bhargava, (1984)2 SCC 75, has succinctly laid down the object of bringing in Chapter IIIA of the Delhi Rent Control Act,