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2021 Supreme(Raj) 1756

RAJASTHAN HIGH COURT BENCH AT JAIPUR
Sangeet Lodha, Inderjeet Singh, Mahendar Kumar Goyal, JJ.
Mahendra Kumar Jain - Appellant
Versus
Appellate Rent Tribunal & Ors. - Respondents
Civil Reference (Larger Bench) No. 1/2020 and Special Appeal (Writ) No. 853/2019
Decided On : 17-07-2021

Advocates appeared:
Mr. Ajeet Kumar Bhandari, Mr. Jitendra Mishra and Priyansh Jain, Mr. N.K.Maloo, Senior Advocate Mr. Abhimanyu Singh, Mr. Manish Sharma, Mr. Lakshay Pareek, Ms. Shalini Sheoran, Mr. Rajendra Soni with Mr. Vishal Soni, Mr. Hemant Gupta, Mr. Shailesh Prakash Sharma, Mr. Bipin Gupta, Mr. Rahul Kamwar, for the Appellant; Mr. Puru Malik, Ms.Priti Malik, Mr. Narendra Malik, Mr. Abhinav Sharma, Mr. Shehban Naqvi, Mr. Rajesh Mehrishi, for the Respondent.

Headnote:(A) Constitution of India - Articles 226 and 227 - Rajasthan Rent Control Act, 2001 - Jurisdiction of Rent Tribunal and Appellate Rent Tribunal - The court entertained a civil reference to determine the maintainability of appeals against the judgments of Single Bench concerning landlord-tenant disputes. The court held that appeals under Article 226 of the Constitution are maintainable only if the Single Judge has exercised jurisdiction under that article, and judicial orders of the Rent Tribunals, deemed akin to civil courts, are not subject to writ jurisdiction as per precedent. (Paras 1, 32, 80)

(B) Appeals - Intra-Court appeal - The court clarified that Rule 134 of the Rajasthan High Court Rules excludes maintainability of appeals from orders made by the Single Judge in the exercise of powers under Article 227 of the Constitution. The historical perspective of Rent Control legislation in Rajasthan was also discussed. (Paras 79, 80)

Table of Content
1. jurisdiction of high court under articles 226 and 227. (Para 1)
2. tenant's default in rent payment leading to eviction. (Para 2)
3. maintainability of appeal against single bench's judgment. (Para 3)
4. arguments on jurisdiction and powers of rent tribunals. (Para 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 , 14)
5. court's observations on high court's authority and judicial review. (Para 16 , 17 , 18 , 19 , 20 , 21 , 22 , 23 , 24 , 25 , 26 , 27 , 28 , 29 , 30 , 31 , 32 , 33 , 34 , 35 , 36 , 37 , 38 , 39 , 40)
6. characteristics of rent tribunal and appellate rent tribunal. (Para 41 , 42 , 43 , 44 , 45 , 46 , 47 , 48 , 49 , 50 , 51 , 52 , 53 , 54 , 55 , 56 , 57 , 58 , 59 , 60 , 61 , 62 , 63 , 64)
7. discussion on whether rent tribunal's summary procedures affect its status. (Para 65 , 66 , 67 , 68 , 69 , 70 , 71 , 72 , 73 , 74 , 75 , 76)
8. conclusion on the appellate jurisdiction of rent tribunal. (Para 77 , 78 , 79)
9. final conclusion on rent tribunal authority. (Para 80)

ORDER

Sanaeet Lodha, J. - The legal questions that fall for our determination in this reference made by the Division Bench of this Court read as under:

    "I) Whether the appeal against the judgement of the Single Bench, reversing/upholding the judgement of the Appellate Rent Tribunal and/or the Rent Tribunal, would be maintainable before the Division Bench of this court under Rule 134 of the Rajasthan High Court Rules of 1952?

    II) Whether the writ petition filed against the judgement of the Appellate Rent Tribunal and the Rent Tribunal by very nature of the dispute, would be considered to have been filed under Article 227 of the Constitution of India, irrespective of invocation of Article 226 of the Constitution of India in the pleadings?"

2. The Background facts giving rise to the legal issues may be summarized thus: The appellant-Mahendra Kumar Jain is a tenant since 10.10.2001 in commercial premises i.e. two shops situated at Sardar Patel Marg, Ajmer, owned by the landlord-Smt. Shail Bhargava and others, the respondent nos. 3 to 6 herein. The respondent-landlord filed a petition under Section 9 of the RAJASTHAN RENT CONTROL ACT , 2001 ("the Act of 2001") before the Rent Tribunal, Ajmer, seeking eviction of the appellant-tenant from the rented premises, on the ground of default in payment of rent for the period from 1.7.2005 to 31.10.2005. The appellant-tenant contested the petition by filing a reply thereto, taking the stand that the respondent-landlord did not disclose her bank account number in the notice served and thus, the mandatory condition precedent for maintaining the petition seeking eviction on the ground of default, was not satisfied. Besides, it was averred that pursuant to the notice served, the arrears of rent due was deposited and therefore, there is no default in payment of rent in terms of Section 9 (a) of the Act of 2001. After due consideration of the evidence on record, the Rent Tribunal arrived at the finding that the appellant-tenant has committed default in payment of rent and accordingly, he was directed to be evicted from the premises in question vide judgment dated 21.4.2007. Aggrieved thereby, the appellant preferred an appeal under Section 19 (6) of the Act of 2001, before the Appellate Rent Tribunal, Ajmer, which stood dismissed vide judgment dated 21.12.2009. Assailing the legality of the judgments of the Rent Tribunal and the Appellate Rent Tribunal, the appellant preferred a writ petition purportedly under Article 226 & 227 of the Constitution of India before this Court. The writ petition stood dismissed by the learned Single Judge vide judgment dated 10.5.2019. The appellant challenged the legality of the judgment passed by the learned Single Judge of this Court by way of intra-Court appeal under Rule 134 of the Rules of High Court of Rajasthan, 1952 ("the Rules of 1952").

3. During the course of the hearing of the intra-Court appeal, learned counsel appearing for the respondents raised a preliminary objection regard

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