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2004(4) Supreme 47
SUPREME COURT OF INDIA
(From Madhya Pradesh High Court)
Rajendra Babu, CJI and G.P. Mathur, J.
Shakuntala Bai and Ors. -Appellants
versus
Narayan Das and Ors. -Respondents
Civil Appeal Nos. 4496-4497 of 1998
Decided on 5-5-2004
Counsel for the Parties :
For the Appellants : K. Ramamurthy, Sr. Advocate, M.P. Shorawala, Shriram, T.N. Saxena and Rajendra Maheshwari, Advocates.
For the Respondents : Badri Prasad Singh, Advocate.
Held : If the subsequent event like the death of the landlord is to be taken note of at every stage till the decree attains finality, there will be no end to litigation. By the time a second appeal gets decided by the High Court, generally a long period elapses and on such a principle if during this period the landlord who instituted the proceedings dies, the suit will have to be dismissed without going into merits. The same thing may happen in a fresh suit filed by the heirs and it may become an unending process. Taking into consideration the subsequent events may, at times, lead to rendering the whole proceedings taken infructuous and colossal waste of public time. There is no warrant for interpreting a Rent Control legislation in such a manner the basic object of which is to save harassment of tenants from unscrupulous landlords. The object is not to deprive the owners of their properties for all times to come. There is another aspect of the matter which needs consideration. After the case had been remanded, the plaint had been amended and the need of the sons had been set up who had all attained majority by that time. The Courts thereafter proceeded to decide the controversy on the basis of the need of the sons and the lower appellate Court, after finding their need to be bona fide, passed a decree for eviction in their favour. In the second appeal preferred by the tenant, the High Court, instead of examining the issues on the basis of which the case had been decided, went on to hold that on account of death of Girdhari Lal, the need set up by him came to an end and on that finding dismissed the suit. The parties having amended their respective pleadings and the two Courts below having decided the matter on such amended pleadings and the evidence adduced thereon, it was wholly impermissible on the part of the High Court to examine the question as to the effect of death of the original plaintiff and thereafter to dismiss the suit on the finding that his need having come to an end, the suit ought to have been dismissed. It is well settled that when amendment is allowed, the proceedings have to be decided on the basis of such amended pleadings. We are, therefore, of the opinion that the view taken by the High Court is wholly illegal. (Paras 15 and 16)
JUDGMENT
G.P. Mathur, J.-It is a shocking case. A suit for eviction of a tenant was instituted more than 42 years back in March, 1962 for the bona fide need of carrying on business by the owner landlord but his widow and sons are still knocking the doors of court of justice. During the pendency of the appeal filed by the tenant the landlord died leaving a widow and minor sons but this, the High Court thought, came to the advantage of the tenant, rendering the suit liable for dismissal, little realizing that they also needed some place to carry on business for survival. Such extreme views erode the faith of people in the judicial system prompting them to take recourse to extra judicial methods to recover possession of their property.
2. These appeals by special leave have been preferred against the judgment and order dated 3.9.1997 of the High Court of Madhya Pradesh by which the second appeals filed by the respondents/tenants were allowed and the suit for their eviction was dismissed.
3. Girdhari Lal Gattani (husband of appellant No.1 and father of appellants No.2 to 4) filed a suit on 31.3.1962 for eviction of Magan Lal (father of respondents) from a non-residential premises. The suit was filed on the ground that he required the premises for carrying on his own business. The suit was decreed by the trial Court against which an appeal was preferred by Magan Lal. During the pendency of the appeal, Girdhari Lal died and the appellants herein were substituted as his heirs and legal representatives. The appellants sought an amendment of the plaint and pleaded that they bonafidely require the premises for carrying on business. The tenant Magan Lal sought an amendment in the written statement to the effect that after the death of Girdhari Lal, the bona fide requirement of the premises for carrying on business pleaded in the suit came to an end. The lower appellate Court allowed the amendments and remanded the matter to the trial Court for fresh consideration. During the pendency of the suit, the plaint was further amended and it was pleaded that the appellants No. 2, 3 and 4 had also attained majority and they wanted to start a cloth business in the premises in dispute. The trial Court, after affording the parties an opportunity to adduce evidence, dismissed the suit. The appellants then preferred an appeal and during the pendency thereof the original tenant Magan Lal died and his sons, respondents No.1 and 2 were substituted in the plaint. The lower appellate Court allowed the appeal and decreed the suit for eviction. Feeling aggrieved by the aforesaid judgment and decree of eviction, the respondents preferred second appeal which has been allowed by the High Court by the impugned judgment/decree dated 3.9.1997 and the suit has been dismissed.
4. The main ground on which the appeal has been allowed by the High Court is that in a suit filed by the landlord for eviction of a tenant, the requirement or need set up by him must subsist till the appeal filed by the tenant is finally decided and that a tenant can always take advantage of subsequent event like death of the landlord at a later stage during the pendency of the appeal etc. to urge that the requirement or need of the landlord has come to an end. Accordingly, it has been held that on the death of Girdhari Lal Gattani, the Civil Suit filed by him ought to have been dismissed as his legal heirs, the appellants herein, could not have continued the suit which was based on personal bona fide need.
5. The question which requires consideration is whether on account of death of a landlord during the pendency of the appeal, a suit validly instituted by him for eviction of a tenant on the ground of his personal need, is liable to be dismissed.
6. The enactment with which we are concerned is the Madhya Pradesh Accommodation Control Act, 1961 (Act No. 41 of 1961). The preamble of the Act reads as under:-
" An Act to provide for the regulation and control of letting and rent of accommodations, for
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