The main legal point established in the judgment is that a tenant must file an affidavit stating the grounds on which he seeks to contest the application for eviction and obtain leave from the Controller, as mandated under Section 25B(4) of the Delhi Rent Control Act.

JUDGMENT

Manmeet Pritam Singh Arora, J. (Oral)--The present revision petition has been filed by the legal heir of the Petitioner, original Tenant assailing the order dated 04.07.2022 passed by CCJ-cum-ARC (Central), Tis Hazari Courts, Delhi (`the Trial Court'), whereby the eviction order with respect to the shop at ground floor, in property bearing No. 1768-1770, Street No. 53, Hardhian Singh Road, Naiwala, Karol Bagh, New Delhi-110005 (`the tenanted premises'), was passed in favour of the Respondents.

2. The Respondents (`Landlords') filed an eviction petition against the original Tenant under Section 14(1)(e) read with Section 25B of the Delhi Rent Control Act, 1958 (`the DRC Act') for recovery of the possession of the tenanted premises on the ground of bona fide requirement for the wife of Respondent No.1 to commence the business of mobile sale/recharge from the tenanted premises.

3. It was stated in the eviction petition that when the tenanted premises was purchased by the Landlords herein, father of the original Tenant, Late Shri. Bhupinder Singh, was carrying on the business in the name and style of Nanak Motors, from the tenanted premises. After the demise of Late Shri. Bhupinder Singh, the tenanted premises was in the possession of the original the tenant and the applicant shall be entitled to an order for eviction on the ground aforesaid. From a careful perusal of sub-section (4) of Section 25-B of the Rent Act, it would be clearly evident that the tenant shall not be permitted to contest the prayer for eviction unless he files an affidavit before the Controller stating the ground on which he seeks to contest the application for eviction and obtains leave from the Controller. This section also clearly indicates that in default of his appearance in compliance with the summons or Tenant, who was carrying on the business in the name and style of Nanak Bullet House.

4. The eviction order was passed by the Trial Court, wherein it was noted that the original Tenant had failed to file the application seeking leave to defend as mandated under the DRC Act. The relevant portion of the eviction order reads as under:

"Summons served upon the respondent through Whatsapp on 21.02.2022. However, the respondent has failed to file application for leave to defend to contest the present petition within the statutory time period.

It was held by the Hon'ble Supreme Court in Prithipal Singh Vs. Satpal Singh (Dead) through his LR's, (2010) 2 SCC 15, that:

"Next comes the very important provision in Section 25-B of the Rent Act i.e. sub-section (4) of the same. It clearly provides that a tenant on whom the summons is duly served in the form specified in the Third Schedule shall not contest the prayer for eviction from the premises unless he files an affidavit stating the grounds on which he seeks to contest the application for eviction and obtains leave from the Controller, as hereinafter provided, and in default of his appearance in pursuance of the summons or his obtaining such leave, the statement made by the landlord in the application for eviction shall be deemed to be admitted by the tenant and the applicant shall be entitled to an order for eviction on the ground aforesaid.

From a careful perusal of sub-section (4) of Section 25-B of the Rent Act, it would be clearly evident that the tenant shall not be permitted to contest the prayer for eviction unless he files an affidavit before the Controller stating the ground on which he seeks to contest the application for eviction and obtains leave from the Controller. This section also clearly indicates that in default of his appearance in compliance with the summons or his obtaining such leave, the statement made by the landlord in the eviction proceedings shall be deemed to be admitted by the tenant and the landlord shall be entitled to an order for eviction on the ground mentioned in the eviction petition. At this stage, we may also note that in sub-section (4) of Section 25-B of the Rent A