Full Judgment Text
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PETITIONER:
V.S. TALWAR
Vs.
RESPONDENT:
PREM CHANDRA SHARMA
DATE OF JUDGMENT01/03/1984
BENCH:
MISRA RANGNATH
BENCH:
MISRA RANGNATH
FAZALALI, SYED MURTAZA
VARADARAJAN, A. (J)
CITATION:
1984 AIR 664 1984 SCR (3) 51
1984 SCC (2) 420 1984 SCALE (1)367
ACT:
Construction of documents, Principle of-True meaning of
clause 12 of the lease deed dated 5.1.1968-Meaning of
"office"-Whether "personal Office" in clause 12 would mean
that the premises were let out for composite purposes and
not for residential purposes and therefore eviction under
section 14(1) (e) of the Delhi Rent Control Act cannot lie ?
HEADNOTE:
Prem Chand Sharma was admitted into tenancy of the suit
premises under a lease deed dated 5th January, 1968, clause
12, thereof provided.
"That the lessee shall use the premises for the purpose
of Residential Personal office only and not for
commercial purposes."
The landlord, appellant, applied to the Rent Controller
on March 4, 1972, for eviction of the Respondent under
section 14(1) (e) of the Delhi Rent Control Act, 1958. The
respondent tenant obtained leave to contest and pleaded
inter alia that the premises were let out both for
residential as also for office and the composite purpose of
the tenancy took the premises out of the purview of
residential accommodation. The Controller did not accept the
defence and passed an order for eviction. In revision,
however, the High Court rejected the land lord’s submission
holding that the use of the word "personal" before "office"
was intended to convey the idea that the tenancy was not for
the purpose of accommodating a place of business and
reversed the decision of eviction. Hence the appeal by the
landlord, after obtaining special leave of the Court.
Allowing the appeal, the Court
^
HELD: (1) The word "office" is used in different senses
and in each case that meaning must be assigned to it which
conforms with the language used. Therefore, in the instant
case, the High Court was not right in picking one of the
meanings given in the chamber’s dictionary and proceeding to
the conclusion that "office" is certainly "not residence"
and a letting purpose which includes office must be
understood to include a purpose other than residence only.
[54-A, 55A-B]
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Macmillan v. Guest (1942) A.C. 561; Smt. Kanta Kathuria
v. Manak Chand Surana, (1970) 2 S.C.C. 232, referred
to.
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2:1. Law is fairly settled that in construing a
document the ordinary rule is to give effect to the normal
and natural meaning of the words employed in the document
itself. [55 D-E]
Krishna Biharilal v. Gulab Chand and Others, [1971]
Supp. S.C.R. 27; D.D.A. v. D.C. Kaushish, (1974) 1 S.C.R.
535; Monypenny v. Monypenny, [1861] 9 H.L.C. 114; In re:
Meredith, ex-parte Chick, [1879] 11 Ch. D. 731, referred to.
2:2. In the instant case it is clear that the parties
to the document were anxious enough and took proper care in
order to keep the user of the premises confined to
residential purpose; that is why it was expressly stipulated
in the lease to prohibit commercial user. Even while
permitting an office to be located, equal care was taken to
put the word ’personal’ before ’Office’ to convey the idea
that the tenant would not be entitled to transact official
business connected with his avocation. Although ordinarily
an office would mean the place where official business is
transacted, a personal office in contradistinction to an
office simpliciter or a commercial office would be a place
where an outsider would not normally be admitted; commercial
transactions would not take place; there would be no fixity
of the location and the tenant would be entitled to use any
portion of the premises as his personal office and the like.
Such a place is referred to as personal office would
essentially be residential and obviously while entering into
the present lease deed, the parties were not trying to
create a lease of premises for any other purposes. In para 2
of the document, there was no description of any existing
office room and available for such use to the tenant, nor
was space earmarked for any personal office out of this
accommodation. It was in the discretion of the lessee to use
any part as a personal office. Every lessee, or for the
matter of that every person maintaining an acceptable
standard of living does set apart a portion of the
accommodation available to him which can answer the
description of a personal office. Even the clause relating
to payment of tax by the lessor do not support the stand of
the lessee. As contemplated under the Transfer of Property
Act a document of lease normally provides the rights and
obligations of both the lessor and the lessee. In
stipulating the rent payable for the use and occupation of
the premises the lessor had undertaken the liability of
payment of taxes as described therein as long as the
premises were used for residence only. This clause
necessarily means that what had been stipulated was only
residential user. In fact, the lessor had been paying the
taxes and the lessee had not been called upon to share the
burden. This clause is an added provision to clinch the
point in dispute against the tenant. Therefore the High
Court, went wrong in reversing the decision of the Rent
Controller by merely relying upon clause 12 of the lease
deed. [55C, 56F-G, 57A-B, D-E, GH, 58 A-B]
3. Though the fact that the tenant has been in
occupation for more than 14 years after the litigation began
will disentitle him to any further time to vacate, taking
judicial notice of the fact that these days an alternative
premises would be very difficult to find, the Court
considered it appropriate to grant time to the Respondent to
vacate the premises upto 31st December, 1984 subject to
furnishing usual undertaking within four weeks or to face
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eviction after four weeks.
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JUDGMENT:
CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION: Civil Appeal No. 2999 of
1980.
From the judgment and order dated the 22nd April, 1980
of the High Court of Delhi at New Delhi in C.R. Petition No.
336 of 1979.
G.L. Sanghi, Mr. A.K. Verma and S. Kashwa for the
appellant.
D.D. Thakur, P.H. Parekh, P.K. Menon and R.K. Sharma
for the respondent.
The Judgment of the Court was delivered by
RANGANATH MISRA, J.-The landlord whose application for
eviction of the tenant, respondent before us, was rejected
by the High Court by reversing the order of the eviction
passed by the Additional Rent Controller has come before
this Court on obtaining special leave and the short point
arising for consideration is as to the true meaning of a
clause in the rent deed.
The respondent was admitted into tenancy of the
premises in question under a lease deed dated 5th January,
1968. Clause 12 thereof provided:
"That the lessee shall use the premises for the purpose
of Residential/Personal office only and Not for
commercial purposes". (underlinings are our own)
The landlord, appellant before us, applied to the Controller
on March 14, 1972, for eviction of the respondent under
Section 14 (1) (e) of the Delhi Rent Control Act, 1958 (’the
Act’ for short). The tenant obtained leave to contest and
pleaded, inter alia, that the premises were let out both for
residential as also office and the composite purpose of the
tenancy took the premises out of the purview of residential
accommodation. The Controller did not accept the defence and
passed an order for eviction. Thereupon, the tenant carried
a revision to the Delhi High Court and reiterated his
defence that the tenancy was not for residential purpose.
The High Court found that there was no infirmity in the
finding about the bona fide requirement but adverting to the
conclusion on the letting purpose held:
"It is well known that premises may be let out for
residence only, for use as an office, for use as a shop
and for other com-
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mercial purpose. Once any of the latter purposes is
combined with the purpose of use as residence, the
premises let out for a composite purpose and for
residence only.
The meaning of the word ’office’, not defined in the
Act, in the Chamber’s dictionary is a place where business
is carried oh. Office is certainly not residence and a
letting purpose which includes office must be understood to
include a purpose other than residence only". And ultimately
concluded by saying:
"Clause (e) of Section 14(1) is available as a ground
to seek eviction of tenants only, among other
requirements, if the premises were let out for
residence only and once the letting purpose is shown to
be composite, an eviction petition under Section 14(1)
(e), without more, must fail."
The High Court rejected the landlord’s submission that the
use of the word ’personal’ before ’office’ was intended to
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convey the idea that the tenancy was not for the purpose of
accommodating a place of business.
Counsel for the appellant took us to the terms of
clause 12 of the lease agreement and emphasised on the
feature that commercial purposes were clearly kept out and
the lease was for residence and authorised the location of a
personal office. He also relied upon the description of the
premises as residential in the application made by the
tenant to the controller for fixation of fair rent in
respect of the very premises.
The word ’office’ is used in different senses and in
each case that meaning must be assigned to it which conforms
with the language used. In Volume 67, Corpus Juris Secundum
at page 96, the following statement appears: "The term
’office’ is one which is employed to convey various
meanings, and no one definition thereof can be relied on for
all purposes and occasions". This Court has approved the
observation of Lord Wright in Macmillan v. Guest, 1 where it
was stated:
"The word ’office’ is of indefinite content. Its
various meanings
55
cover four columns of the New English Dictionary.. "
See Smt. Kanta Kathuria v. Manak Chand Surana(1). In this
view of the position the High Court was not right in picking
one of the meanings given to the word in the Chamber’s
dictionary and proceeding to the conclusion that ’office’ is
certainly not residence and a letting purpose which includes
office must be understood to include a purpose other than
residence only.
Section 2(i) of the Act defines ’premises’ to mean "any
building or part of a building which is, or is intended to
be, let separately for use as a residence or for commercial
use or for any other purpose ......." Respondent’s counsel
has argued that tenancy under the Act can be for three
purpose;-(1) residential, (2) commercial and (3) for any
other purposes depending upon the use for which the premises
are let out. Conceding that the definition is capable of
such an argument being built up, a reference to the
pleadings in this case shows that the permission in the rent
deed of locating a personal office had been stated to be a
commercial purpose. Great care seems to have been taken by
the landlord while inducting the tenant under the rent deed
to put a total prohibition to commercial user of the
premises. That is why in clause 12 it has been specifically
stated that it is "not for commercial purposes". In the
back-drop of such a provision in the lease agreement, the
true meaning of the words ’personal office’ has to be found
out. Law is fairly settled that in construing a document the
ordinary rule is to give effect to the normal and natural
meaning of the words employed in the document itself. See
Krishna Biharilal v. Gulabchand and Ors. (2) This Court in
D.D.A. v. D.C. Kaushish(3) observed:
"There (at pages 28-29) ’Construction of Deeds and
Statutes’ by Odger’s (5th ed. 1967) the First General
Rule of Interpretation formulated is: ’the meaning of
the document or of a particular part of it is therefore
to be sought for in the document itself’. That is,
undoubtedly, the primary rule of construction to which
Sections 90 to 94 of the Indian Evidence Act give
statutory recognition and effect.. Of course, ’the
document’ means ’the document’ read as a whole and not
piecemeal.
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The rule stated above follows logically from the
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Literal Rule of Construction which, unless its
application produces absurd results must be resorted to
first. This is clear from the following passages cited
in Odgers’ short book under the First Rule of
Interpretation set out above :
Lord Wensleydale in Monypenny v. Monypenny 1 said:
"the question is not what the parties to a deed
may have intended to do by entering into that deed, but
what is the meaning of the words used in that deed; a
most important distinction in all cases of construction
and the disregards of which often leads to erroneous
conclusions".
Brett, L.J. in Re Meredith, ex-parte Chick 2
observed :
"I am disposed to follow the rule of construction
which was laid down by Lord Denman and Baron Parke..
They said that in construing instruments you must have
regard not to the presumed intention of the parties,
but to the meaning of the words which they have used."
Since we agree with this exposition of the law reference to
the oral evidence or even to the tenant’s documents would be
wholly out of place. The terms of the document if they make
any good meaning must be given effect to.
All the provisions of the lease deed have to be read
and in fact with the assistance of counsel we have read the
same more than once during the hearing. The parties to the
document were anxious enough and took proper care in order
to keep the user of the premises confined to residential
purpose; that is why it was expressly stipulated in the
lease to prohibit commercial user. Even while permitting an
office to be located, equal care was taken to put the word
’personal’ before ’office’ to convey the idea that the
tenant would not be entitled to transact official business
connected with his avocation. Although ordinarily an office
would mean the place where official business is transacted a
personal office in contradistinction to an office
simpliciter or a commercial office would be a place where an
outsider would not normally
57
be admitted; commercial transactions would not take place;
there would be no fixity of the location and the tenant
would be entitled to use any portion of the premises as his
personal office and the like. Such a place if referred to as
personal office would essentially be residential and
obviously while entering into the present lease deed, the
parties were not trying to create a lease of premises for
any other purposes as now contended by Mr. Thakur for the
respondent. The High Court, therefore, went wrong in
reversing the decision of the Rent Controller by merely
relying upon clause 12 of the lease deed.
It is relevant to note the description of the premises
as given in the lease deed itself. Paragraph 2 of the
document described the premises thus :
"The lessor hereby leases to the lessee the following
described premises of the entire house built on plot
No. 125. Greater Kailash-I, New Delhi comprising of
three bed rooms with two bath rooms, drawing-cum-dining
room, one kitchen one front and central veranda, front
and back lawn, garage, servant quarter, above garage, a
servant W.C. and terrace."
There was no description of any existing office room and
available for such use to the tenant. nor was space
earmarked for any personal office out of this accommodation.
As indicated above it was in the discretion of the lessee to
use any part as a personal office. Every lessee, or for the
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matter of that every person maintaining an acceptable
standard of living does set apart a portion of the
accommodation available to him which can answer the
description of a personal office.
Mr. Thakur placed reliance on another clause of the
lease deed which reads as follows:
"That the lessor shall pay all the taxes of any kind
whatsoever including house tax, ground rent as are of
may hereinafter be assessed on the demised premises by
the municipality or any other authority whatsoever
provided the premises are used for residence only."
We do not think the terms of this clause support the stand
of the lessee. As contemplated under the Transfer or
Property Act a document of lease normally provides the
rights and obligations of both the
58
lessor and the lesses. In stipulating the rent payable for
the use and occupation of the premises the lessor had
undertaken the liability of payment of taxes as described
therein as long as the premises were used for residence
only. This clause necessarily means that what had been
stipulated was only residential user. It is appropriate to
take note of the admission of Mr. Thakur that the lessor had
been paying the taxes and the lessee has not been called
upon to share the burden. This clause is an added provision
to clinch the point in dispute against the tenant.
We are, therefore, of the view that the High Court
clearly erred in law in reversing the decision of the
Controller allowing the eviction. The appeal is allowed and
the order of the High Court is set aside and the order of
the Additional Rent Controller is restored. Parties are
directed to bear their respective cost throughout.
This is a litigation which began in 1970. The tenant
has been in occupation and continuing for about 14 years now
after the application for eviction had been filed.
Ordinarily we would not have allowed any time to the tenant
keeping this aspect in view. But Mr. Thakur has urged upon
us to take judicial notice of the fact that these days an
alternative premises would be very difficult to find. We
allow time to the tenant until 30th December, 1984 to vacate
the premises subject to furnishing usual undertaking within
four weeks from today. In the absence of the undertaking the
tenant becomes liable to eviction after four weeks.
S.R. Appeal allowed.
59