The onus lies upon the tenant to show payment of rent, and mere oral testimony regarding payment of rent cannot suffice.

S.S.Sodhi, J.

1. The controversy here is with regard to the order of ejectment passed against the tenant Maman Singh on the ground of non-payment of arrears of rent.

2. It was on May 13, 1981 that the landlady Roshani Bai filed a petition under Section 13 of the Haryana Urban Control of Rent and Eviction Act, 1973 seeking the ejectment of the tenant Maman Singh on various grounds including non-payment of arrears of rent, change of user, that the value and utility of the building has been materially impaired, nuisance and personal necessity. The ground that eventually prevailed both with Rent Controller, and the Appellant Authority being that of non-payment of arrears of rent. The Rent Controller had also held in favour of the landlady on the issue of material impairment of the value and utility of building but the Appellant Authority came to the finding that both the change of user and material impairment by the tenant was on land, which did not form part of the tenancy. On all the other grounds, however, a finding was recorded against the landlady.

3. Non-payment of arrears of rent was alleged from September 1, 1977 to April 30, 1981. The landlady, however, restricted her claim to only 36 months. Admittedly, there was no rent note executed between the parties nor was any other document executed showing either the rate of rent or the receipt of rent by the landlady from the tenant. No receipt of rent for any period is forthcoming. It is the case of the landlady that receipts were written up by the tenant at the time of payment of rent, which she thumb marked, implying thereby that whenever rent was paid, she issued a receipt. The case of the tenant on the other hand is that though he had been paying rent yet no receipt had been issued to him. To prove payment of rent and non-payment of rent, both sides sought to rely upon oral evidence. It is now well settled that the onus in such cases lies upon the tenant to show payment of rent and mere oral testimony regarding payment of rent cannot suffice.

4. The circumstances that counsel for the tenant sought to press in-aid was the long period for which the landlady says she had not received rent. The argument being that it could not be expected that she would have kept quiet for such a long period if rent had indeed not been paid by the tenant./ Counsel for the respondent landlady, on the other hand, stressed the counter-point namely, that if no receipt was being issued by the landlady for the rent paid, despite being demanded, no explanation is forthcoming from the side of the tenant to account for such rent not having been sent by Money Order or being deposited in Court.

5. There is indeed substance in the contentions raised both on behalf of the tenant and also the landlady. As mentioned earlier, rent here has been claimed for a period as long as 36 months (though it is said that it had in fact not been paid for 44 months). In the normal course, no landlady would sit quiet if rent is not paid for such a long period of time. At the same time, it is also not plausible to accept that if every time rent is paid and receipt is demanded, but in given, the tenant would continue paying rent without obtaining any receipt, when the alternative of sending rent by Money Order is easily available. What must tilt the balance, in this case here, is the circumstance of the strained relations that had developed between the parties, particularly during the later part of the period in question. It cannot be accepted that when the landlady and tenant were not i good terms and in fact they were actually at loggerheads with each other, that the tenant would rest content by paying rent and obtaining no receipt for it.

6. Considered, therefore, in the totality of the circumstances of the case no exception can indeed be taken to the finding of the Rent Controller and the Appellant Authority that the tenant had failed to pay the arrears of rent due. The order of ejectment on this ground thus clearl