Full Judgment Text
NON-REPORTABLE
IN THE SUPREME COURT OF INDIA
2023INSC874
CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION
CIVIL APPEAL NO. 7328 OF 2010
SMT. SHANTA RANI
WIDOW OF AMRIT LAL … APPELLANT(S)
VERSUS
NASIB KAUR
WIDOW OF HARBHAJAN SINGH … RESPONDENT (S)
J U D G M E N T
S.V.N. BHATTI, J.
1. Smt. Shanta Rani-tenant of Shop Room No. 2 at Guru Amardas Chowk,
Model Town, Jalandhar, is the Appellant. Smt. Nasib Kaur-Respondent is the
landlady.
2. The Appellant in the Civil Appeal assails the Order of Eviction ordered by
the Rent Controller vide Order dated 19.02.2009 in Ejectment Application No.
334 of 2004 on the file of Rent Controller, Jalandhar and the Judgment dated
24.04.2002 in Civil Revision No. 2121 of 2009 before the High Court of Punjab
and Haryana at Chandigarh. The Respondent initiated the eviction proceedings
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under Section 13, read with Section 13-B of the Act against the Appellant. The
controversy between parties is stated thus.
Signature Not Verified
Digitally signed by
SWETA BALODI
Date: 2023.10.05
17:41:35 IST
Reason:
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The East Punjab Urban Rent Restriction Act, 1949.
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3. The Respondent owns Shop Room No. 2 in Guru Amardas Chowk, Model
Town, Jalandhar (from now on referred to as ‘the tenanted premises’). The
Respondent is claiming the status of a Non-Resident Indian (NRI) and has been
residing in England for several years. The Respondent claims to have been
pursuing avocation for earnings or gains in England. Due to the recession
intervening in the regular activity of the Respondent, she has become without
work in England. Therefore, the Respondent decided to relocate and settle in
India and, in furtherance of that idea, decided to seek eviction of the Appellant
from the tenanted premises for doing business in readymade garments. The
Respondent placed on record and relied on the passport standing in her name to
establish her status as a Non-Resident Indian. Though the prayer of eviction under
Section 13-B of the Act is accepted, we deem it proper to refer to yet another
circumstance, viz ., that at the first instance, the Respondent filed the Eviction
Application under Section 13 of the Act against the Appellant complaining
default in payment of rent. The Respondent claims not to be in possession of a
building in Punjab and that the request of the Respondent to the Appellant to
vacate the premises did not yield a positive result. The Respondent also urges that
the need is bonafide, and that she desires to do business in the tenanted premises.
Hence, the Application for eviction.
3.1 The Appellant, on Notice of summary eviction proceeding under Section 13-
B sought leave of the Court in terms of Section 18-A Sub-Sections (4) and (5) of
the Act, to defend the eviction through summary procedure. The application
seeking leave to defend is numbered as E.A. No. 334 of 2004. The case of the
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Appellant is that the instant eviction proceedings simultaneously initiated against
Shop Room No. 1 and tenanted premises (i.e., Shop Room No.2) are unavailable
because Shop Room No.1 was let out to a partnership firm, M/s Amrit Lal and
Sons, by Rent Note dated 02.05.1994 and the tenanted premises to Amrit Lal s/o
Chaman Lal vide Rent Note dated 07.02.1989. The Respondent, on a previous
occasion, had filed two separate Applications seeking eviction of these individual
tenants from these two shops. Further, the Appellant’s case on the maintainability
of a joint Application for eviction is not adverted to, for the sole reason that the
Respondent herself has clarified that the present ejectment is maintained for
tenanted premises alone. Hence, the averments on this area of controversy are not
adverted.
3.2 The Appellant averred that: (a) since the Respondent is a permanent resident
of the United Kingdom and has not shifted to India, the petition for eviction
through Section 13-B is not maintainable; (b) the relationship of the landlady and
the tenant between the Appellant and the tenant is denied; (c) the Ejectment
Application under Section 13-B (2) of the Act is not maintainable because an
Ejectment Petition was filed concerning Shop Room No. 3 under Section 13-B of
the Act. The Respondent is one of the owners of Shop Room No. 3 and, therefore,
Section 13-B is unavailable for summary eviction of the rent from the tenanted
premises. Considering the Respondent’s age, she is neither doing any business in
the United Kingdom, nor intends to run a business in India. It is stated by the
Respondent that Section 13-B of the Act is a plea in complete convenience to
summarily evict the Appellant. S. Kuldeep Singh s/o Harbhajan Singh filed an
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Eviction Petition under Section 13-B against one Mukesh Kumar concerning
Shop Room No. 5. S. Kuldeep Singh is stated as one of the owners and the
Respondent, i.e., Nasib Kaur, is also a co-owner of Shop No. 5. The eviction order
in favour of S. Kuldeep Singh inures to the benefit of the Respondent and yet
another application for summary eviction under Section 13-B of the Act is not
maintainable. Therefore, the Respondent seeks possession of more than one
premises. With the above grounds, the Appellant sought leave of the Rent
Controller to defend the Eviction Petition.
4. The Respondent filed a written reply to the objections raised by the Appellant,
and for the view the Rent Controller has taken in the matter, we think that detailed
reference to the reply of the Respondent to the grounds raised against the
summary eviction petition, is not undertaken.
5. The Rent Controller, by Order dated 19.02.2009, dismissed the Application,
among other things , by holding that the ejectment is not filed seeking eviction of
two distinct premises, because the Respondent has withdrawn the relief made
against Shop Room No.1. After perusing the passport filed as Annexure-A, the
Learned Rent Controller recorded that the Respondent was of Indian origin and
is presently holding the passport of the United Kingdom. Therefore, the
Respondent satisfies the definition of a Non-Resident Indian. The Appellant’s
contention on the ownership of Shop Room No. 2 is met by accepting Annexure-
B i.e., sale deed, that Nasib Kaur - Respondent owns the tenanted premises.
Therefore, the denial of the relationship of the landlady and tenant is untenable.
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The Rent Controller relied on the reported Judgments in Sat Pal v. Om Prakash
to apply the interpretation of the words ‘Non-Resident Indian’ and held a finding
in favour of the Respondent. The Rent Controller answers the maintainability of
the petition by the Respondent from the United Kingdom by holding that even
before eviction, an NRI is not required to be physically present in India. On
examination of the definition of ‘NRI’ and the requirement of Section 13-B, we
hasten to add at this juncture of our consideration that the Rent Controller rightly
records the said finding. Adverting to other grounds raised in the defence, that the
Respondent filed several Eviction Applications, it is concluded that the filing of
a Petition by S. Kuldeep Singh against Mukesh Kumar does not debar Nasib
Kaur-Respondent from maintaining a petition under Section 13-B of the Act,
against Shanta Rani/tenant. The last objection of the Appellant is that the
Eviction Application is filed against a dead person. The Rent Controller, by
referring to the cause title, held that the Application is not filed against the dead
person, but the Legal Representatives of the deceased are arrayed as parties.
Having filed the reply to the summary eviction with the standing shown in the
cause title, the Appellant herein ought not to be heard that the petition was filed
against a dead person. The filing of an Eviction Petition against M/s. Arcade
under an erroneous view does not make the Respondent an owner of such shop.
The Learned Rent Controller dismissed the Application.
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(2007) 2 Civil Court Cases 309
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6. After rejecting the application filed for leave to defend, the Rent Controller
independently examined the case of the Respondent and, by Order dated
19.02.2009, ordered eviction. The Appellant filed Civil Revision No. 2121 of
2009 before the High Court of Punjab and Haryana at Chandigarh. The High
Court dismissed the Civil Revision. Hence, the Appeal.
7. We have narrated in required detail the Rent Controller’s conclusions in
dismissing the petition filed to defend the Eviction Petition because the grounds
of challenge are introduced with new facts from stage to stage.
8. The Appellant in the High Court, challenged the Order of Eviction on three
grounds: firstly , the Application filed in respect of Shop Room No. 3 stood
dismissed, and S. Kuldeep Singh maintained another Petition for Shop Room No.
3. The High Court noted that the dismissal of an earlier Application against one
of the tenants is not a ground for dismissal of another Ejectment Petition filed by
the landlord. Secondly , the Application for Eviction was filed for default in
payment of rent and continuing even after the amendment of Petition under
Section 13-B, is wholly erroneous. After examining the record, the High Court
held that the Rent Controller rightly did not proceed with the inquiry on the
alleged default in payment of rent. No bar to amend the application is brought to
our notice to examine this ground in detail. Lastly , the argument against the Order
of Ejectment is that for Shop Room No. 5, an Order of Ejectment dated
14.05.2004 was made in favour of S. Kuldeep Singh. The Respondent, being a
co-owner, is barred from maintaining the present Application. The High Court
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recorded a finding that each one of the owners claimed possession on separate
grounds and the owner of Shop Room No. 2 is not disentitled to file the present
application. The requirement pleaded by them cannot be held as malafides, and
by noting that no other argument is advanced, the High Court dismissed Civil
Revision No. 2121 of 2009.
9. The Appellant in the present Civil Appeal referred to the pendency of Civil
Appeal No. 5256 of 2006 titled M/s. Sachdeva Watch and Electronic Store and
another v. Makhan Singh Grewal and SLP (C) No(s). 20744 of 2007 and Civil
Appeal No(s). 5257 of 2006, 5258 of 2006, 5259 of 2006, 5260 of 2006, 5262 of
2006, 1894 of 2007, 1896 of 2007, 1897 of 2007, 1899 of 2007, 1901 of 2007,
2120 of 2007, 2760 of 2007. The Civil Appeals are dismissed with observations.
10. Adv. Kavita Wadia contends that the findings recorded by the Rent
Controller and the High Court had ignored the limitation prescribed in Section
13-B of the Act, and the possession order in favour of S. Kuldeep Singh disentitles
Nasib Kaur-Respondent from maintaining an Application under Section 13-B of
the Act. The Learned Counsel, with considerable force, argued by referring to the
definition clause of “building” in Section 2(a), which defines “building” read with
Section 13-B of the Act. The subject Civil Appeal has since been tagged and
heard together with Civil Appeal No. 8641 of 2009. Learned Counsel invited our
attention to the additional documents filed in the accompanying Appeal. The
bottom line of the argument is that the owners of both shop premises are not
entitled to eviction of tenants through the summary procedure.
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11. The Advocate for the Respondent relies on the findings recorded by the
Rent Controller and the new grounds raised before the High Court and argues that
the challenge to the conclusions now recorded by the High Court and the Rent
Controller must not introduce a new case. The Appellant cannot argue a point
which is not argued before the High Court.
12. We have perused the record and taken note of the rival contentions.
13. At the outset, it may be noticed that the Civil Appeal has been admitted by
referring to a few similar petitions/appeals pending in this Court. The similarity
of an issue with a pending matter has been raised as one of the grounds for
granting Special Leave, and the Civil Appeal is numbered. With the dismissal of
the connected matters, the natural result is that the instant Appeal must follow.
Since a distinguishing feature is raised by the Learned Counsel for the Appellant,
we would consider the maintainability of the Civil Appeal. We notice that the
Appellant confined the challenge to the Order of Eviction only to three grounds
before the High Court. Either by choice or for any reason, the Appellant before
the High Court did not press any other ground available against the Order of
Eviction or the Order refusing to grant leave to the Appellant. Having done so, in
the Civil Appeal, contentions do not expand more than the scope of consideration
either by the High Court or the Rent Controller.
14. The argument now advanced on the maintainability by referring to
additional documents filed in Civil Appeal No. 8641 of 2009 will not further the
case of the Appellant. By a separate Judgment, we have refused the new pleas
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introduced by the tenant in Civil Appeal No. 8641 of 2009, and the Appeal herein
does not have a better case on new pleas.
15. In Civil Appeal No. 8641 of 2009, we have, after setting out the statutory
claim under Section 13-B and Section 18-A of the Act, explained the procedure
for availing relief of leave to defend the eviction proceeding and the same
reasoning is applicable to the case in hand as well.
16. The Eviction Order is passed on the principles laid down by this Court in
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Baldev Singh Bajwa v. Monish Saini and Ram Krishan Grover and others v.
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Union of India and others .
17. The Appellant failed to make out a case that the appraisal of available
material is either perverse or the Rent Controller informed a reason for granting
leave to defend. In our jurisdiction under Article 136 of the Constitution of India,
we do not ordinarily go into the credibility of the findings of fact, reappraise the
averments, and record results. In the case on hand the circumstances stated are
very normal and have been examined from the perspective in which they are
required to be reviewed by the Rent Controller while exercising the jurisdiction
under Section 13-B read with Section 18-A Sub-Sections (4) and (5) of the Act.
No ground for any interference is made out whichever way the contentions are
considered by this Court.
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(2005) 12 SCC 778
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(2020) 12 SCC 506
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18. After perusing the findings of fact recorded by the Rent Controller and the
High Court, we believe that the grounds urged are without merit, and the Appeal
is liable to be dismissed.
19. Accordingly, the Civil Appeal fails and is dismissed — no order as to costs.
……………................J.
[ANIRUDDHA BOSE]
.……………..............J.
[SANJAY KUMAR]
…………................J.
[S.V.N. BHATTI]
NEW DELHI;
OCTOBER 05, 2023.
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