Sub-letting of any portion of leasehold premises without landlord's consent entails liability for eviction.

Petitioner, the Vellore Shrof Kumaraswami Chetty Choultry by Executive Trustee Sri V. K. Kannappa Chettiar seeks to revise the decree and order of the District Judge, in C.R.P. No. 16 of 1968 on his file, setting aside the order of eviction passed by the Rent Controller and affirmed by the appellate Authority, on the ground of sub-letting.

2. The petitioner and the respondent entered into the lease Exhibit A-1, for the respondent carrying on a laundry business in the leasehold premises. The petitioner came forward with the case that the respondent-tenant sub-let the premises to one Mani for running a tea shop. The respondent denied sub-letting and stated that as the income from his laundry business was not sufficient for the maintenance of his increasing family, he started the tea shop agreeing to pay additional rent. On a consideration of the oral and documentary evidence in this case., the Rent Controller and the Appellate Authority have in detailed and well-considered orders accepted the case of the petitioner and ordered eviction. The learned District Judge has, in revision, filed by the tenant, concurred with the finding of the Rent Controller and affirmed by the Appellate Authority, that the tea shop was run in the demised premises itself and not in the vacant municipal site as put forward by the respondent-tenant in the course on his evidence. However, for the reasons stated in paragraph 6 of his order, the learned District Judge found that there was no sub-letting and set aside the orders of the Rent Controller and the appellate Authority and dismissed the eviction petition.

3. I entirely agree with the contentions of Sri K. Parasaran that it is for the landlord to establish independently his plea that the respondent-tenant has sublet the premises. It is really unnecessary to refer to the decision in M. K. Palaniappa Chettiar and another v. A. Ponnuswami Pillai1, in support of the said obvious proposition. But, as already pointed out, the Rent Controller and the appellate authority have in well-considered orders accepted the case of the landlord. Even a reading of paragraph 6 of the order of the learned District Judge will show that the reasons given by him are not sufficient and would not justify interference with the concurrent findings of the Rent Controller and the appellate authority, even giving full scope to the words in section 25 of the Madras Buildings (Lease and Rent Control) Act defining the revisional jurisdiction of the District Court.

4. The learned District Judge has observed on the strength of the evidence of the Sanitary Inspector, P.W. 2, that both the laundry and the tea shop were simultaneously run in the demised premises and that the tea shop was run by one Mani in whose name the licence had been obtained and the said Mani should have been working under the tenant. I fail to appreciate the reasoning as to how the fact the licence was taken in the name of Mani would show that he was working under the tenant. If the respondent-tenant had been running the tea shop as his own, he would have taken the licence in his name. The reasoning of the learned District Judge is obviously perverse. The next observation made by the learned District Judge is that Mani would not have easily agreed to the transfer of the licence in the name of the tenant. He relied on the application Exhibit A-4 wherein Mani, who is referred to as Subramani has admitted that he was working under the tenant only for wages.The respondent-tenant has got into trouble by sub-letting the premises to Mani, who obtained a licence for running a tea shop and the respondent has made a clumsy attempt to improve his case by getting a transfer of the licence in his own name The learned District Judge has not considered whether the statement of Mani in his application would be admissible at all as evidence in this case. Both according to the petitioner and the respondent, Mani has no independent title According to the petitioner, he is a sub