Rajasthan High Court
Lodha, J.
Hanuman Prasad - Appellant
Versus
Gaindi Lal - Respondents
S.B. Civil Revision No. 473 of 1972
Decided On : September 09, 1973
The point is whether even though the defendant is not entitled to the benefit available to a tenant under sub-sec. (7) on account of proviso below it, is he still liable to be penalised under sub-sec. (6) for non-compliance with the provisions of sub-sec. (4) or sub-sec. (5)?
Held = It is a principle of jurisprudence that rights and liabilities are co-relative. Consequently if a certain provision of law provides a benefit to a class of persons on performance of the Act mentioned therein the penalty prescribed for non- perfor-mance of the act cannot be meted out to a person who cannot avail of the benefit of such a provision. It would, thus be incongruous to say that even though the defendant cannot save himself from ejectment by making the deposit or payment under sub-sec. (4) or sub-sec. (5) of sec. 13 of this Act, yet he is liable to have his defence struck out on account of noncompliance of the same. It appears to me therefore that sub-sec. (6) of sec. 13 cannot be pressed into service against a tenant to whom the benefit under sub-sec. (7) is not available. Since the case of the defendant falls under the proviso to sub-sec. (7), the penalty provided under sub-sec. (6) of striking out the defence cannot be meted out to him. (paras 6 and 7)
2. The defendant-petitioner took the suit shop on rent from the plaintiff-non-etitioner on 1-12-1953 on a monthly rent of Rs. 25/-. The plaintiff filed a suit for jectment on the ground of default in payment of rent. During the pendency of the uit sec. 13-A was introduced and in accordance with sec. 13-A the tenant paid the ent, interest and costs with the result that the suit for ejectment was dismissed on 4.7.1966. Thereafter the plaintiff brought a second suit for ejectment on 4-7-1968 inter alia on the ground that the defendant had again committed default in payment of rent for the period commencing from 18-1966 to 19-6-1968. The date of first hearing of the suit was 22-11-1968. After taking one adjournment the defendant filed written statement on 3-1-1969. He pleaded inter alia that he remitted monthly rent to the land-lord time and again by money orders but the land-lord went on refusing with a view to create a ground for ejecting him on the ground of default. He further pleaded that inspite of refusal of the landlord to accept the money-orders, he deposited the full arrears of rent under sec. 19A of the Act and nothing was due from him upto 17-8-68. Thus his case was that he had not committed any default on payment of rent and the suit for ejectment on the ground of default was not maintainable. On 25-2-1969 the defendant submitted an application under sec. 13(4) of the Act stating that he had deposited an amount by way of rent more than claimed by the plaintiff, yet by way of abundant caution he prayed that it may be determined whether after making allowance for the default under sec. 19A, any amount remained due from him, and if so a direction may he given in accordance with the law so that the defendant may deposit the same. This application was opposed by the landlord who filed a written reply wherein he contended that the defendant had already taken benefit of sec. 13A in the previous suit and therefore he was not entitled to save himself from ejectment by making the deposit under sec. 13(4). After hearing arguments on this application the Court by its order dated 26-4-1969 directed that an issue we framed whether the defendant has committed a second default in payment of rent. It was, however, held that the application under sec. 13 (4) was not maintainable. The case then proceeded to trial. After some evidence had been recorded, the plaintiff made an application on 15-7-1971 under sec. 13(6) of the Act praying that since the tenants application under sec. 13 (4) of the Act had been dismissed and he had not deposited the arrears of rent along with interest on the first date of hearing i. e. 22.11.1968 his defence may be struck out. The learned Munsiff by his order dated 2-8-1971 allowed the application and struck out the defence of the tenant against eviction.
3. Aggrieved by the order of the learned Munsiff, the defendant-tenant filed appeal but the Same was dismissed by the learned Additional District Judge No. 2, Jaipur City by his order dated 8-8-1972. Hence this revision by the defendant-tenant.
4. Learned counsel for the petitioner has urged that the courts below had no jurisdiction to strike out the tenants defence under sec, 13 (6) of the Act for allegedly not depositing or paying the amount referred to in sub-sec. (4) or sub-sec. (5) of the Act, because the benefit of the deposit even if made would not have been available to the tenant on acc
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