MANIK LAL MAJUMDAR AND ORS. versus GOURANGA CHANDRA DEY AND ORS.

Citation: [2005] 1 S.C.R. 437 · Decided: 12-01-2005 · Supreme Court of India · Bench: R.C. LAHOTI · Disposal: Disposed off

Judgment (excerpt)

., 
' 
h 
MANIK LAL MAJUMDAR AND ORS. 
A 
v. 
GOURANGA CHANDRA DEY AND ORS. 
JANUARY 12, 2005 
[R.C. LAHOTI, CJ., G.P. MATHUR AND 
B 
P.K. BALASUBRAMANY AN, JJ.] 
-4 
Rent, Control and eviction: 
Tripura Buildings (Lease and Rent Control) Act, 1975-Sections 20, c 
13(/),(2), (3), 12-Eviction on the ground of non payment of rent-Appeal 
against, preferred without deposit of arrears of admitted rent-Mdntainability 
of-Held, maintainable-Conjoint reading of all provisions of the Act shows 
that deposit of admitted rent is not a pre-condition for mere filing or 
presentation of memorandum of appeal-Tenant may have sufficient cause for D 
his failure and must be given opportunity to explain the same-It is open to 
' 
the appellate authority not to proceed with the hearing of the appeal or to 
pass any interim order inf avour of the tenant until he has paid or deposited 
"' 
all arrears of rent admitted by him to be due. 
Interpretation of statute-Intention of the legislature to be found by E 
reading the statute as a whole-In order to ascertain the meaning of a clause 
in a statute, the court to look at the whole statute, at what precedes and what 
succeeds and not merely the clause itself 
Words and phrases-'Prefer an appeal'-Meaning of in the context of 
F 
S.13(/) of Tripura Buildings (Lease and Rent Control) Act, 1975 . 
..t: 
Respondent-Landlord had filed eviction petition against appellant-
tenant on the ground of non payment of rent and bonafide requirement. 
Rent Control Court held that appellant was defaulter in payment of rent 
and ordered eviction. First appellate Court dismissed tenant's appeal. G 
District Judge, however allowed revision and remanded matter for fresh 
consideration. 
On a writ petition filed by respondent, High Court held that appeal 
against an eviction order under S.12 was not competent unless provisions 
437 
H 
438 
SUPREME COURT REPORTS 
[2005] I S.C.R. 
A of S.13(1) were complied with. Thereafter appellant preferred Special 
Leave Petition which was heard by two Judges and in view of difference 
of opinion between them, matter came up before the three Judges Bench. 
Appellant contended that mere filing of the appeal without payment 
or making the deposit by itself does not cause any prejudice to the landlord 
B inasmuch as it will always be open to the appellate authority not to proceed 
with the hearing of the appeal or not to pass any interim order in favour 
of the tenant-appellant until the requisite payment or deposit has been 
made. 
Respondent contended that on a plain language of the Act, the 
C payment or deposit of admitted amount of rent by the tenant is a condition 
precedent for preferring an appeal and in absence of such payment or 
deposit, the appeal would be incompetent and is liable to be rejected. 
D 
Disposing of the appeal, the Court 
HELD: I. The view taken by appellate authority that as the appellant 
had not paid or deposited all arrears of rent admitted by him to be c!ue 
the appeal filed by him was incompetent is unsustainable. [448-FJ 
2.1. Sub-section (1) of Section 13 of Tripura Buildings (Lease and 
E Rent Control) Act, 1975 lays down that any tenant against whom an 
application for eviction has been made by a landlord shall not be entitled 
to contest the application or to prefer an appeal under Section 20 unless 
he makes payment of all arrears of admitted rent. The object of sub-section 
(I) of Section 13 of the Act is to avoid litigation for realization of arrears 
of rent which is likely to accumulate during the course of litigation, which 
F may be a long period and also to deter the tenant from resorting to an 
unfair practice to use and occupy the tenanted premises without payment 
of any rent so long as the litigation continues. (445-C, Fl 
2.2. The expression "all arrears of rent admitted by the tenant to be 
due", if interpreted literally, would mean that unless the tenant specifically 
G admi.ts any arrears of rent due to the landlord, the condition to make the 
payment of arrears of rent in order to contest the original proceedings 
before the Rent Control Court or to prefer an appeal as provided under 
Section 13 of the Act would not arise. If the material on record prima facie 
discloses the admission of relationship of landlord and tenant and the rate 
H of monthly rent payable, the tenant would be required to pay or deposit 
M.L. MAJUMDAR v. G.C. DEY 
439 
t..>. 
arrears of rent and continue payment of current rent during the pendency A 
of

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