JUDGMENT:

CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION: Civil Appeal No. 173 of

1983.

PG NO 336 From the Judgment and Order dated 30.9.1982 of the Calcutta High Court in Suit No. 568 of 1979.

Ajay Nath Ray, Surendra Dube and Mrs. Indira Sawhney for the Appellant.

S.K. Kapur, Ranjan Deb, Gangadeb and B.P. Singh for the Respondent.

The Judgment of the Court was delivered by RANGANATHAN, J. A somewhat important question as to the nature and scope of the rights available to a defendant whose "defence has been struck out" calls for determination in this appeal in the particular context of the West Bengal Premises Tenancy Act, 1956. The appeal arises from the judgment of a Full Bench of the Calcutta High Court constituted to resolve a conflict in the earlier decisions of the same court on this issue. The Full Bench, by a majority of two (P.K. Banerjee and Chittatosh Mookerjee, JJ) to one (Ramendra Mohan Datta, Acting C.J.) decided that in a matter where the defence against delivery of possession has been struck out under sub-section 3 of section 17 of the West Bengal Premises Tenancy Act, 1956, (hereinafter referred to as the ’Act’) the defendant-tenant cannot cross- examine the witnesses called by the plaint