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2023 Supreme(Del) 1294

IN THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI
Jyoti Singh, J.
M/s Divine Messengers – Appellant
Versus
Dr. Prerna Diwan – Respondent
RFA 187 of 2023 & CM Appl. 11197 of 2023
Decided On : 25-04-2023

Advocates appeared:
Mr. B.N. Sharma, Advocate, for the Appellant.
Mr. Vikas Yadav, Advocate with Respondent-in-person, for the Respondent.

Headnote:

Possession - Landlord-Tenant Dispute - Order 6 Rule 17 CPC - Order 12 Rule 6 CPC - Order XXX Rules 3, 5 and 6 CPC - Delhi Rent Control Act, 1958 - Indian Evidence Act, 1872 - Payal Vision Limited v. Radhika Choudhary, (2012) 11 SCC 405 - Roop Kumar v. Mohan Thedani, (2003) 6 SCC 595 - Aftab Currim v. Ibrahim Currim & Sons and Others, 2022 SCC OnLine Bom 801 - Jodh Singh Gujral v. S. Kesar Singh - Molilal v. Ghellabhai, ILR 17 Bombay - Narayan Cheety v. Laxman Chetti, ILR Madras, 256 - Gokul Prasad v. Additional District and Sessions Judge, (2003) 1 ARC 347 - Balraj Taneja v. Sunil Madan, (1999) 8 SCC 396 - S.M. Asif v. Virender Kumar Baja, (2015) 9 SCC 287 - Karam Kapahi v. Lal Chand Public Charitable Trust, (2010) 4 SCC 753 - Maria Margarida Sequeria Fernandes v. Erasmo Jack De Sequeria, (2012) 3 Scale 550 - Hill Elliott & Co. Ltd. v. Bhupinder Singh, (2011) 121 DRJ 438 (DB) - State Bank of Patiala v. Chander Mohan Jain, 1996 RLR 404

Fact of the Case:

The Plaintiff filed a suit for possession, arrears of rent and damages, claiming to be the lawful owner of the property. The Defendant, a tenant, refused to vacate the premises and stopped paying rent, leading to the suit.

Finding of the Court:

The Trial Court decreed the suit for possession and dismissed the Defendant's application under Order 6 Rule 17 CPC. The Court found that the Plaintiff had established the jural relationship of landlord and tenant, the tenancy was not protected under the Delhi Rent Control Act, 1958, and the tenancy had been terminated.

Issues: The issues included non-impleadment of a partner of the Defendant Firm, refund of security deposit, and alleged expenditure on renovation of the premises.

Ratio Decidendi: The Court held that the non-impleadment of a partner of the Defendant Firm was not fatal to the suit. The Defendant failed to establish the alleged security deposit and renovation expenditure. The Court also emphasized the requirements for a landlord to seek a decree of possession against a tenant.

Final Decision: The appeal was dismissed, upholding the Trial Court's judgment and decree for possession in favor of the Plaintiff.

JUDGMENT

Jyoti Singh, J. (Oral)--Present appeal has been filed assailing the impugned judgment/decree dated 09.11.2022 passed by the learned Trial Court decreeing the suit of the Respondent herein for possession of the suit property as also dismissing the application of the Appellant under Order 6 Rule 17 CPC by the same judgment. Appellant herein was the Defendant before the Trial Court and Respondent was the Plaintiff and parties are referred to by their litigating status before the Trial Court, hereinafter.

2. Facts necessary for adjudication of the appeal are in a narrow compass and are captured as follows:

(a). Plaintiff filed a suit for possession, arrears of rent and damages, claiming to be the lawful owner of property bearing Unit No.206, 2nd Floor, Krishna Plaza, Plot No.1, Sector-11, Pocket-4, Dwarka, New Delhi, purchased by the Plaintiff vide Sale Deed dated 20.05.2014.

(b). Plaintiff inducted the Defendant as a tenant and a Lease Agreement dated 17.07.2017 was executed between the parties for a period of two years and the Agreement was registered vide registration No. 5760 on 18.07.2017 with the Office of Sub-Registrar-IX, New Delhi. The monthly rent agreed between the parties was Rs.19,500/- for the first year and Rs.21,450/- for the second year.

(c). After expiry of the lease of the tenanted premises, Plaintiff asked the Defendant repeatedly to vacate the premises and also sent a legal notice dated 07.08.2019 terminating the tenancy. However, when the Defendant refused to vacate the premises and even stopped paying the rent, Plaintiff filed the suit from which the present appeal arises.

(d). Upon service of summons, Defendant filed the written statement on 03.09.2020 and thereafter, the Plaintiff filed an application under Order 12 Rule 6 CPC on 18.11.2021 seeking decree on admission. Thereafter, on 05.05.2022, an application was filed by the Defendant under Order 6 Rule 17 CPC for amendment to the written statement along with reply to the application under Order 12 Rule 6 CPC. By the impugned judgment, the Trial Court dismissed Defendant's application and allowed the application under Order 12 Rule 6 CPC decreeing the suit for possession.

3. Assailing the judgment and decree of the Trial Court, learned counsel for the Defendant argued that there were no clear or unequivocal admissions by the Defendant and the Trial Court thus erred in decreeing the suit on an application under Order 12 Rule 6 CPC. It is further submitted that the suit property was leased out to the Defendant in the year 2015 and the lease was renewed from time to time. Defendant deposited security of Rs.3 lakhs with the Plaintiff for the initial lease and the successive renewals, which was to be refunded at the end of the lease periods, however, Plaintiff failed to do the needful. The next argument on behalf of the Defendant is that Defendant is a Partnership Firm of which her husband and she are partners and despite having knowledge of this fact, Plaintiff did not implead the partner, namely, Shri Acharya V. Shastri as party to the suit. The only other argument pressed on behalf of the Defendant by the learned counsel is that when the premises was taken on lease by the Defendant, it was not being used for commercial purpose but was run as a hotel with a kitchen and a lot of renovation work was done by the Defendant leading to an investment of over Rs.3 lakhs, but till date money has not been reimbursed by the Plaintiff.

4. Per contra, learned counsel for the Plaintiff supports the impugned judgment and prays for the appeal to be dismissed with costs. It is submitted that the law is well settled with respect to the adjudication of a suit for possession/ejectment between a landlord and tenant and the Plaintiff is only required to establish: (a) relationship of landlord-tenant; (b) tenancy not protected under the Delhi Rent Control Act, 1958; and (c) tenancy has been terminated. It is urged that each of the three ingredients stand satisfied in the p

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