Madras High Court
ALAGIRISWAMI
Chins Chong Sine - Appellant
Versus
Puttay Gowder - Respondent
Decided On : 03/31/1966
MADRAS BUILDINGS (LEASE AND RENT CONTROL) ACT - REVISION - S. 25 - SCOPE - DISTRICT COURT CAN COME TO A CONCLUSION DIFFERENT FROM THAT ARRIVED BY THE SUBORDINATE COURT ON THE SAME SET OF CIRCUMSTANCES.
Fact of the Case:
The petitioner filed a revision petition under S. 115 C.P.C. challenging the order of the District Judge, Coimbatore, who allowed a revision by the landlord against the judgment of the Subordinate Judge, Ootacamund. The Subordinate Judge had reversed the order of the House Rent Controller and held that there was no willful default by the tenant justifying his eviction. The District Judge, however, concluded that there was willful default and allowed the revision.
Finding of the Court:
The court held that the District Court had the power to come to a conclusion different from that arrived by the subordinate court on the same set of circumstances. The court observed that the District Court was not in a better position than the appellate court with regard to the conclusion to be drawn from the proved facts and, therefore, it was competent to draw its own conclusions.
Issues: Whether the District Court had the power to come to a conclusion different from that arrived by the subordinate court on the same set of circumstances.
Ratio Decidendi: The court relied on the provisions of S. 25 of the Madras Buildings (Lease and Rent Control) Act, which enables the District Court to consider the lower court's order with regard to its legality, propriety, and regularity. The court also referred to the Supreme Court's decision in Raman and Raman v. Govt. of Madras, AIR 1956 SC 463, which held that the word 'propriety' is capable of a variety of meanings and includes 'fitness, appropriateness, suitability, conformity with requirements, rules or principles, rightness, correctness, justness, accuracy.'
Final Decision: The court dismissed the revision petition, holding that the District Judge's judgment fell clearly within the ambit of S. 25 of the Madras Buildings (Lease and Rent Control) Act and that there was no room for the exercise of revisional powers by the High Court.
2. I am afraid the arguments of the teamed counsel for the petitioner as to the ambit of S. 25 of the Madras Buildings (Lease and Rent Control) Act are not justified by the wording of that section. He has referred me to two decisions of this Court, one of Rajagopala Aiyangar, J. in C.R.P. No. 1420 of 1954 (Mad) and another by Rajamannar, C.J. in Sasivarna Thevar v. Ponnu, 1957-1 Mad LJ 158. In the case decided by Rajamannar, C.J. be extracts with approval a paragraph from the judgement of Rajagopala Aiyangar, J. which reads thus :
"The only proper way of defining the relative jurisdiction of the appellate and revisional authorities constituted under the Madras Buildings (Lease and Rent Control) Act is to hold that while an appellate authority is entitled to examine every question of tact and law dealt with in. or arising out of, an order of the Rent Controller, a revisional authority, while undoubtedly can interfere with the question of law, where the Rent Control Act or any provision has been misconstrued, cannot normally interfere with findings of fact, unless (a) there were no other materials on which such a finding could be based; or (b) the finding has been reached by a consideration of irrelevant or inadmissible matter; or (c) It is so perverse that no reasonable person could have reached that conclusion; or (d) the finding had been reached by an erroneous understanding of the law applicable to the matter. To hold that a revisional authority could interfere with findings of fact of an appellate authority without regard to these limitations would be to convert a revision into a regular appeal and to obliterate the distinction between appeals and revisions which the Act has taken care to provide".
With great respect to the learned Judges, I cannot help feeling that both their Lordships have not considered the words of Section 12(b) of the old Madras Buildings (Lease and Rent Control) Act 1949 or S. 25 of the present Act, which enable the District Court fan the case of mofussil cases and the High Court in cases arising in the city to consider the lower court's order with regard to its legality, propriety and regularity. There is no reference in either of the two judgements, to the exact implications of these words.
3. The implications of the word "propriety" have been considered by the Supreme Court in Raman and Raman v. Govt. of Madras AIR 1956 SC 463 : 1956-1 Mad LJ 189 (SC) thus :
"The word propriety' has nowhere been defined in the Act and is capable of a variety of meanings. In the Oxford English Dictionary Vol. VIII, it has been stated to mean 'fitness: appropriateness; aptitude; suitability; appropriateness to the circumstances or conditions, conformity with requirements; rules or principle, rightness, correctness, justness, accuracy. 'If the State Government was of the opinion that respondent 2 had better facilities for operation than the appellant and their services to the public would be more beneficial
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