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TMI Blog1979 (12) TMI 161X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... g to the contrary in this Act as it existed before the commencement of the Ordinance or in any other law, (a) no court shall, in any proceeding pending on the date of commencement of the amending Ordinance pass any decree in favour of a landlord for eviction of a tenant on the ground of non-payment of rent, if the tenant applies under Clause (b) and pays to the landlord, or deposits in court, within such time such aggregate of the amount of rent in arrears, interest thereon and full costs of the suit as may be directed by the court under and in accordance with that clause; (b) in every such proceeding, the court shall, on the application of the tenant made within thirty days from the date of commencement of the amending ordinance, notwithstanding any order to the contrary, determine the amount of rent in arrears upto the date of the date of the order as also the amount of interest thereon at six per cent per annum and costs of the suit allowable to the landlord; and direct the tenant to pay the amount so determined within such time, not exceeding ninety days, as may be fixed by the court, and on such payment being made within the time, fixed as aforesaid, the proceeding s ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ithin the outside limit of fifteen days from the date of the order. If the tenant complied with the order, the suit for eviction stood dismissed. 5. By the Amending Rajas-than Act 12 of 1065 Section 13A was introduced. Sub-section (4) of Section 13 of the original Act was substituted by still preserving the tenant's right to pay the arrears with interest d costs within the outside limit or two months and on payment of the same no decree for eviction on the ground of non-payment of rent shall be passed. The Rajasthan Ordinance learned Counsel 26 of 1975, inter alia, has amended the opening non obstante clause of Section 13A and except for substituting the word 'Act' by 'Ordinance' in Clauses (a), (b) and (c) nothing else has been altered. 6. Section 13A is selective enough. Only one type of eviction decree which is solely based on the ground of non-payment of rent is taken care of extending still further the period for payment of arrears with interest and costs. Under Section 13A, as amended, the benefit is available in pending suits of that category, appeals therefrom and applications for revision pending on the date of commencement of the Ordinance, that ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... pplication for special leave under Article 136 of the Constitution it would have omitted to mention it in express terms. 11. We will now deal with the second submission of the appellant which is the alternative argument. 12. It is submitted by the appellant that even if an application for special leave is not an appeal for the purpose of Section 13A(a) in view of the fact that leave of this Court had been obtained and an appeal had been pending in pursuance of the grant of special leave he is entitled to invoke the protection under Section 13A(c). It lis on that basis that the appellant submitted a second application relying on Section 13A(c). 13. Under Order XVI, Rule 11 of the Supreme Court Rules, on the grant of special leave the petition for special leave shall. subject to the payment of additional court-fee, if any, be treated as the petition of appeal and it shall be registered and numbered as such. Under Section 13A(c) read with Section 13A(b), in a pending appeal, the tenant Has to make an application within 30 days from the date of the presentation of the memorandum of appeal. There is no provision in an appeal by special leave for presentation of a memorandum o ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... upon the institution of a suit under Section 6. Under Sub-section (4) of Section 7 any failure to pay the provisional rent for any month by the fifteenth day of the next following month shall render the ten ant liable to eviction under Clause (a) of Sub-section (1) of Section 13, and all sums due from the tenant as such rent shall be recoverable from him as if the order under Sub-section (1) were a decree of the court in a suit for periodical payments. Section 11 provides for procedure for increasing rent and the landlord may bring a suit under Sub-section (3) of Section 11 for increasing rent or standard rent in the lowest court of competent jurisdiction. Under Sub-section 11(4) the court shall, after such summary enquiry, as it may think necessary, make orders according to law, and a decree shall follow. Section 19A provides for payment, remittance and deposit of rent by tenants and the court for the purpose of that section as well as for Sections 19B and 19C with respect to any local area means any civil court which may be specially authorised by the State Government by notification in this behalf, or where no civil court is so authorised, the court of the Munsif and the court ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... , namely, the usual court which is available to the land-lord for instituting suits for eviction against tenants. The landlord, however, will have to take note of the provisions under the Act and comply with those provisions in such a litigation. The tenant also, in such suits, will be able to claim all the benefits conferred upon him under the Act which the Courts will, in appropriate cases, grant. 22. In the above background of the provisions in the Act Section 22 which provides for appeals and revisions may be read: 22 (1). From every decree or order passed by a court under this Act. an appeal shall lie to the court to which appeals ordinarily lie from original decrees and orders passed by such former court. (2) No second appeal shall lie from any such decree or order; Provided that nothing herein contained shall effect the powers of the High Court for Rajasthan in revision; (3) Any person aggrieved by an order of the Magistrate may. within fifteen days from the date of such order, appeal therefrom to the District Magistrate or such authority as tire State Government may from time to time appoint in that month. 23. It is very significant that while Sectio ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ly barred in case of decrees or orders passed under the Act to which a copious reference has been made hereinabove with reference to the various provisions of the Act. 27. With regard to execution proceedings, it would appear that these are outside the scheme of Clauses (a) to (c) of Section 13A but it is unnecessary to express any firm opinion on that point since it does not arise in this appeal. 28. We are of opinion that the appellant cannot take advantage of Section 13A in this appeal by special leave. His applications under Section 13A stand dismissed. The appeal is, therefore, dismissed, but there will be no order as to costs. S. Murtaza Fazal Ali, J. 29. This appeal by special leave involves a question of law regarding the ambit and scope of Section 13A of the Rajasthan Premises (Control of Rent and Eviction) Act, 1950 as amended by Ordinance learned Counsel 26 of 1975 dated September 29, 1975 which was later replaced by an Act. 30. The appeal arises in the following circumstances. 31. The defendant/appellant along with his two brothers Padam Chand and Tara Chand had taken on lease a shop at a monthly rent of ₹ 60/- from the plaintiffs/respondents as ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... sions of Section 13(4) of the Act. The Court accordingly by its order dated December 14, 1966 struck out the defence of the defendants. It may be pertinent to note that although the appellant had not put in his formal appearance he understood the order of the trial Court dated December 14, 1966 striking out the defence and treated the same as having been passed not only , against his brothers Padam Chand and Tara Chand, the two defendants, but also against himself and accordingly he along with his brothers preferred an appeal against that order to the Senior Civil Judge, Jaipur City on October 30, 1967. This appeal was ultimately dismissed and then the three defendants filed an application for revision before the High Court which was also dismissed by the High Court by its order dated September 19, 1968. Thus it is manifest that the appellant was fully aware of the proceedings that had taken place as also of the order that had been passed against the defendants striking out their defence. When the record was received back by the trial Court, Shri Tata Chand Jain Advocate of the defendants informed the Court on November 26. 1968 that he was holding brief only on behalf of the two de ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... Court has rightly pointed out that the conduct of the appellant in not giving any explanation for not participating in the proceeding despite service of the summonses speaks volumes against him. The argument of the appellant that the entire proceedings should be can celled as they had taken place in his absence was rightly rejected by the High Court. In view of the con current findings of fact recorded on this point by the District Judge and the High Court, we are not at all inclined to interfere, in this appeal by special leave, with the merits of the case decided by the Courts below. We are satisfied that the appellant was not diligent at all and has to thank his stars if the decision of the Courts below went against him. In these circumstances, we do not propose to enter into merits of the appeal. 34. Mr. Jain, however, raised a pure question of law flowing from the amendment by which Section 13A was introduced in the Act by virtue of Ordinance learned Counsel 26 of 1975. Mr. Jain submitted that the statutory benefit conferred by Section 13A would have to be extended to the appellant before this Court also and since the rent due had already been paid and the appellant was pr ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... lowing observations are made: In relation to pending suits and proceedings for ejectment on ground of defaults, an opportunity had been given to tenants to deposit the arrears of rent within thirty days and upon such deposit no decree for ejectment will be passed on such ground against them. Thus a perusal of Clause (6) of the Statement of Objects and reasons would clearly show that the intention of the Legislature was to confer certain benefits on the tenants to pending suits and proceedings for ejectment only on ground of defaults by giving them an opportunity to deposit the arrears within a specified time. It is nowhere mentioned in Clause (6) that this benefit was to be extended beyond the frontiers of the State in appeals which were not ordinary remedies but which were special remedies provided for under the Constitution. Thus the scope of the amendment was to confine the protection given to the tenants within the limits of the hierarchy of courts mentioned by the Act, and to the Courts in the State of Rajasthan. It may be noticed that the Statement of Objects and Reasons does not even give a hint that the benefit conferred by Section 13A would be available even in the e ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... contemplates only three kinds of proceedings, namely, suits, appeals and applications for revision and these proceedings must be under the Act itself. Clause (a) of Section 13A of the Act provides that no court after the commencement of the amending ordinance shall pass any decree on the ground of nonpayment of rent if the tenant applies and pays to the landlord the entire rent in arrears, interest and full costs of the suit. Clause (b) requires that such an application is to be made within thirty days of the commencement of the amending ordinance on which the Court would determine the rent in arrears and direct interest to be paid at the rate of six per cent per annum. Clauses and (b) obviously do not apply to the present case, because the proceedings were not pending in any court when the ordinance or the Act came into force. Reliance was, however, placed on the word proceeding as appearing in Clauses (a) and (b) in order to plead an argument that the word proceeding was wide enough to include not only suits, but appeals at all stages. This argument in our opinion is based on a serious misconception of the interpretation of the word proceeding . The Legislature has not left ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... this clause also contemplated the same proceedings as contemplated by Clauses (a) and (b), namely the proceedings indicated in the explanation. Thus the benefit conferred by Clause (c) would apply only to appeals or applications for revisions filed under the Act as provided by Section 22 of the Act. The Legislature never intended to confer this benefit beyond the frontiers of the State. 39. It was, however, submitted that the word appeal is wide enough to include an appeal by special leave filed in this Court. It is, however, not possible to accept this contention. The amendment was passed some time in the year 1975 i.e. about 25 years after the Constitution had come into force. An appeal by special leave was a special remedy provided for by Article 136 of the Constitution and the State Legislature of Rajasthan must be presumed to be aware of this special remedy as also the nomenclature of this remedy. If the intention was to ex tend the benefit to appeals for special leave it should have been so clearly stated in Clause (c). Furthermore, the Rules framed by the Supreme Court, the knowledge of which also must be ascribed to the State Legislature, make a clear-cut distinction b ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... for by Section 22 of the Act. In fact, as already pointed out, the benefit conferred by Section 13A of the Act does not extend even to the execution proceedings and in these circumstances it cannot be assumed that it would have applied to a Court which is beyond the frontiers of the State and to a remedy which lifts been provided not by the State Legislature but by the Constitution itself. 40. For these reasons, therefore, we reject the argument of the appellant that Clause (c) of Section 13A of the Act would apply to the present appeal and that the appellant is. therefore, entitled to the benefit of this provision on the basis of the Civil Miscellaneous Petition filed by him. We are clearly of the opinion, on an interpretation of the various clauses of Section 13A of the Act and the explanation thereto that the benefit under Section 13A has been intended by the Legislature to be conferred only on the appellate and revisional courts and even execution proceedings have been excluded from the ambit of the protection granted. 41. For these reasons I agree with the judgment proposed by my brother Goswami, J., and dismiss the appeal but in the peculiar circumstances of the case w ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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