Non-payment of rent found by the Court deliberate and intentional.

1. C.R.P.No.2848 of 2000 has been filed by the tenant, against the judgment dated 6.6.2000, and made in R.C.A.No.899 of 1993, on the file of the VIII Judge, Court of Small Causes, Madras, confirming the order and decretal order dated 30.6.1993 and made in R.C.O.P.No.2788 of 1990 on the file of the XII Judge, Court of Small Causes, Madras ordering eviction, on the ground of wilful default. C.R.P.Nos.2840, 2849 and 2850 of 2000 have been filed by the tenant against the common order, dated 6.6.2000, passed by the VIII Judge, Court of Small Causes, Madras, dismissing M.P.Nos.131, 130 and 69 of 1999, in R.C.A.No.899 of 1993, filed for receipt of additional grounds, additional documents and additional evidence, respectively.

2. With the consent of both sides, these civil revision petitions are taken up for the final disposal.

3. The respondent herein, who is the petitioner before the Rent Controller, is the owner of the property described in the rent control petition and the said property was leased out by her for residential purposes on a monthly rent of Rs.1,500 to one M/s.Needle Industries India Ltd., in which the revision petitioner herein, who is the respondent before the Rent Controller, was an employee. The said M/s.Needle Industries India Ltd., surrendered possession of the said property to the respondent herein by the end of the August, 1981 and the revision petitioner herein, who was already in possession of the said property, independently became tenant of the said premises, under the respondent herein on a monthly rent of Rs.1,500. The revision petitioner has paid rent for the months of September, October and November, 1981 and defaulted to pay rent thereafter. The respondent herein, as plaintiff, filed a suit in O.S.No.1765 of 1981, on the file of the City Civil Court, Madras, for ejectment against the revision petitioner herein, as defendant. Subsequent to the filing of the said suit, the revision petitioner herein, as plaintiff, filed a suit in C.S.No.239 of 1982 on the file of the High Court of Judicature, Madras, for the relief of specific performance of contract, based on an alleged oral agreement for sale, and the said suit is pending. The ejectment suit filed by the respondent herein, as plaintiff, in O.S.No.1765 of 1981, on the file of the City Civil Court, Madras, was transferred to the file of the High Court of Judicature, Madras, for being tried along with the suit in C.S.No.239 of 1982, referred to above, but the same had not been traced and numbered in the High Court. The exemption granted in the Tenancy Act, for tenancies of residential buildings over Rs.400 was struck down by the Supreme Court and, therefore, the suit for ejectment filed by the respondent herein had to be withdrawn as having become infructuous. The revision petitioner herein has committed default in payment of rent, claiming himself to be the owner of the demised property, from 1.12.1981, even though he is not the owner of the said property. The revision petitioner has failed to pay rent for a period of 105 months from December, 1981 to August, 1990 and the nonpayment of rent is wilful. Hence, the respondent herein, as petitioner, filed the rent control petition for eviction of the revision petitioner from the demised premises.

4. Therevision petitioner, as respondent before the Rent Control Court, resisted the claim made by the respondent herein on the following grounds: The revision petitioner has become the tenant of the premises described in the petition, on a monthly rent of Rs.1,500 and had paid rent upto November, 1981. The respondent herein had agreed to sell and execute a sale deed with regard to the property described in the petition, for a sum of Rs.3,40,000, in the month of December, 1981 and, therefore, the revision petitioner is deemed to have become the owner of the said property from December, 1981. The respondent herein, who is residing in the United States of America, has failed to execute the sale deed as agr