TMI Blog1972 (8) TMI 145X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... required the house bonafide for the residence of himself and his family. B.N. Chatterji - the defendant, contested the suit and alleged that the landlord did not require the premises bonafide. The learned Munsif by judgment dated January 17, 1964 held in favour of the landlord and decreed the suit for ejectment. From that decree the tenant filed Civil Appeal No. 59/1964 in the court of the District Judge, Ajmer. The learned Judge held that the landlord did not require the premises reasonably and bonafide and allowed the appeal and dismissed the suit. 3. Thereupon the landlord filed second appeal No. 390/1965 in the Rajasthan High Court. During the pendency of the appeal, the tenant B.N. Chatterji died on 31-7-1967 and his widow and ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... f the landlord the learned Judge set aside the Order of the District Court and restored the decree passed by the Munsif. 5. It was contended before us that the term 'tenant' in Section 3(vii) of the Act referred to above included, on a proper construction the heirs of a tenant and, therefore, they were entitled in their own right to urge that the landlord did not require the premises reasonably and bonafide. On the other hand, if they were not tenants, it was no longer open to pass a decree of eviction against them and, if necessary, the plaintiff should be referred to a separate unit. In any case, it was contended, in view of the new point urged at the time of the hearing, the High Court should have remanded the case for the ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... anything contained in any law or contract, no Court shall pass any decree, or make any order, in favour of a landlord, whether in execution of a decree, or otherwise, evicting the tenant so long as he is ready and willing to pay rent therefor to the full extent allowable by this Act, unless it is satisfied that there are in the case one or the other of the several reasons given in Clause (a) to (1) of Sub-section (1) of that Section. One of such reasons is that the premises are required reasonably and bonafide by the landlord for the use or occupation of himself or his family. If the Court is satisfied about this reason the court would be entitled to pass a decree against the original tenant. The Trial Court, as we have already seen, was s ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... Act It is pointed out by this Court in Anand Nivas (Private Ltd. v. Anandji Kalyanji Pedhi and Ors [1964]4SCR892 @ 908 at page 908 A person remaining in occupation of the premises let to him after the determination of or expiry of the period of the tenancy is commonly though in law not accurately, called a statutory tenant : Such a person is not a tenant at all; he has no estate or interest in the premises occupied by him. He has merely the protection of the statute in that he cannot be turned out so long as he pays the standard rent and permitted increases, if any, and performs the other conditions of the tenancy. His right to remain in possession after the determination of the contractual tenancy is personal: it is not capable of being ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ve of the deceased respondent. In other words, the heirs and the legal representatives could urge all contentions which the deceased could have urged except only those which were personal to the deceased. Indeed this does not prevent the legal representatives from setting up also their own independent title, in which case there could be no objection to the court impleading them not merely as the legal representatives of the deceased but also in their personal capacity avoiding thereby a separate suit for a decision on the independent title. 11. The heirs of the tenant purported to contend that after the death of the statutory tenant, they, as next heirs, enjoyed the status of 'tenant'. For this reliance was placed on the defi ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... in any other part of the definition of 'tenant' reproduced above. Therefore, the heirs and legal representatives of the deceased B.N. Chatterji could not in their own right claim to be tenant within the meaning of the Act. Therefore, the only contentions that they could put forward in the appeal were the contentions appropriate to their representative character and not one which was personal to the deceased. The contention based on the ground of bona fide requirement by the landlord was personal to the statutory tenant and on his death the same is not open to his legal representatives unless there is anything in the provision of the Act which makes the legal representatives statutory tenants to the same extent as the deceased. It ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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