Interpretation of the U.P. Urban Buildings Act provisions regarding rent calculation and validity of termination notice.

JUDGMENT :

Siddhartha Varma, J.

1. The instant revision has been filed against the judgement and decree dated 19.3.2016 by which the suit for eviction and arrears of rent has been decreed. On 21.5.2012, the respondent/landlord by means of a notice sent by Registered Post determined the tenancy of the Applicants/tenants on account of arrears of rent. He therefore after determining the tenancy requested the tenants to pay the arrears within 30 days of the receipt of the notice and, thereafter, to vacate the premises in question and hand over vacant possession to the plaintiff/landlord. On 19.6.2012, the defendants/tenants replied to the notice and submitted that as there was no default in the payment of rent, the notice be discharged. Thereafter, the plaintiff landlord filed the suit in which the impugned judgement and decree has been passed. The Suit was filed on the ground that the plaintiff was the landlord of the premises being Premises No. 117/609 Pandu Nagar, Kanpur Nagar, and that the defendants were tenants in the premises and that the latter had defaulted in the payment of rent and, therefore, their tenancy stood terminated. As they had not vacated the premises the suit had to be filed.

2. The plaintiff landlord had stated that the rate of rent of the premises in question was Rs. 1900/-per month and as there was no written agreement between the landlord and the tenant taxes at the rate of 18% had to be added to the amount of Rs. 1900/-and, therefore, the rent which was payable was Rs. 2242/-per month and, therefore, the premises was out of purview of the U.P. Urban Buildings (Regulation of Letting, Rent and Eviction) Act, 1972.

3. Further, the case of the plaintiff/landlord was that as payment of rent at the rate of Rs. 1900/-per month with effect from 1.7.2010 to 30.11.2011 totalling Rs. 32,300/-alongwith taxes to the tune of Rs. 5814/-were due from the tenant the suit had to be decreed. The plaintiff/landlord had also given the details of the other default which the tenant had made. The defendant had stated his case in the written statement and had alleged that though the rent of the premises was Rs. 1585/-he was, in addition to the rent, paying Rs. 315 and therefore the total rent which he was paying was Rs. 1900/-. This he had stated in paragraph 12 of the written statement. He had further stated that in the amount of Rs. 1,585/-the house tax and the sever tax were included. Therefore, the premises in question was within the purview of the U.P. Urban Buildings (Regulation of Letting, Rent and Eviction) Act, 1972.

4. The counsel for the defendant/tenant, here in the revision, submitted that the rent of Rs. 1585/- included the house tax and the water tax and after adding Rs.315/-the payment for electricity, which the tenant was making, the total rent came to Rs. 1,900/-. The tenant had also relied on an agreement of the year 1982 and had stated that since there was a written agreement house tax and water tax could not be asked for in addition to the rent which he was paying.

5. The landlord/respondent, however, submitted that when admittedly the tenant had stated that he was paying Rs. 1,900/-and when in the year 1982 the written agreement to which the tenant was mentioning had exhausted itself and thereafter the tenancy was continuing, then there was no written agreement and as the agreement was oral, the house tax and water tax at the rate of Rs. 18% had to be paid over and above the sum of Rs. 1900/-.

6. Learned counsel for the landlord also submitted that even if it was accepted that the rent was Rs. 1585/-(which definitely did not include the taxes) and the electricity charges were of Rs. 315/-then also the rent amount would total to Rs. 1900/-. Relying upon 2015 (1) ARC 152 (Savitri Devi Didwania vs. Allied Pharmaceutical and Ors.) learned counsel submitted that electricity charges which the tenant was paying was also rent as per the Section 2 (1) (g) of the U.P. Urban Buildings (Regulation of Letting, Rent and Evictio