Allahbad High Court
GOPINATH
Brij Kishore - Appellant
Versus
Mushtari Khatoon - Respondent
Decided On : 10/28/1975
LANDLORD AND TENANT - FORFEITURE OF TENANCY - DENIAL OF TITLE - REQUISITES - U.P. TEMPORARY CONTROL OF RENT AND EVICTION ACT, 1947, SEC. 3(F) - TRANSFER OF PROPERTY ACT, 1882, SEC. 111(G).
Fact of the Case:
The plaintiff, Smt. Mushtari Khatoon, filed two suits against her tenants, Ishtiaq Ahmad and Brij Kishore, seeking to evict them from her shops on the ground that they had forfeited their tenancy by denying her title. The tenants had alleged in their suits that the sale deed in the name of Smt. Mushtari Khatoon was benami and the real owners were her husband and sons.
Finding of the Court:
The court held that the tenants had not forfeited their tenancy by denying the title of the landlady. The court found that the tenants had accepted that the plaintiff was the landlady, paid rent to her, and obtained receipts from her. The court also found that the tenants had clarified their position in their reply to the notice and had tendered two months' rent by money order to the plaintiff.
Issues: 1. Whether the tenants had forfeited their tenancy by denying the title of the landlady? 2. Whether the amendment of the pleadings in the tenants' suits helped them in regard to forfeiture?
Ratio Decidendi: 1. The court held that the tenants had not forfeited their tenancy because they had not unequivocally or unambiguously denied the landlady's title. The court found that the tenants had accepted that the plaintiff was the landlady, paid rent to her, and obtained receipts from her. The court also found that the tenants had clarified their position in their reply to the notice and had tendered two months' rent by money order to the plaintiff. 2. The court held that the amendment of the pleadings in the tenants' suits did not help them in regard to forfeiture because the cause of action had accrued to the landlady before the amendment.
Final Decision: The court dismissed the plaintiff's suits for eviction and ordered that the parties bear their own costs.
"That the defendant No. 1 was the owner of the shop in dispute and the defendants Nos. 2 to 5 realised the rent from the plaintiff but the receipt was issued under the signature of defendant No. 1."
2. The suits giving rise to the instant appeals were filed prior to the amendment of the plaint on the basis of the allegations made in Suit Nos. 417 and 418 of 1968 that the sale deed in the name of Smt. Mushtari Khatoon was benami and the real owners were her husband and her sons. The ejectment of the tenants was claimed on the ground of forfeiture of their tenancy by the denial of the title of the landlady.
3. The defence delivered in the two suits was that the defendants had not denied the landlady's title. They had only given their impression about the nature of the sale transaction and they had in fact been paying rent to her and she had been issuing receipts to them. The defendants further pleaded that the required notice terminating their tenancy under the Transfer of property Act had not been given and the suits thus could not be decreed. Suit No. 2 of 1969 was filed against Brij Kishore defendant appellant in S.A. No. 119 of 72 and Suit No. 3 of 69 was filed against Ishtiaq Ahmad defendant respondent in S.A. No. 3009 of 72. Suit No. 3 of 69 was dismissed by both the courts on the ground that a notice under Section 111(g) of the Transfer of Property Act terminating the defendants' tenancy on the ground of denial of the landlady's title was n
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