Civil Appeal No 2006 of 1968
From the Judgment and Decree dated 26 11 1961 of the Punjab High Court Circuit Bench at Delhi in Execution Second Appeal No 158 D of 1964
Bishan Narain and DN Mishra for the appellant
VS Desai BP Singh and AK Srivastava for the respond ent
The JUdgment of the Court was delivered by BHAGWATI J
This appeal by certificate raises a short but interesting question of law relating to the interpreta tion and effect of the proviso to section 3 of the Delhi Rent Control Act 1958
The dispute in this appeal relates to a shop situate on the ground floor of a building bearing Municipal No 624 36 Old 530 35 New situate in Sadar Bazar Delhi
The building was an evacuee property and it was acquired by the Central Government under section 12 of the and formed part of the compensation pool
It was sold by public auction and the appellant being the highest bidder was accepted as the auction purchaser by the managing officer on 5th September 1955
It does not appear from the record as to when the appellant paid the full purchase price to the managing officer but presumably he did so before 23rd September 1955 when the sale was confirmed in his favour by the managing officer
The sale certificate was not issued in favour of the appellant for a considerable time and we are told that even until now it has not been issued but possession of the building was handed over to
the appellant on 30th August 1956 and a letter dated 3rd September 1956 was addressed by the managing officer to the respondent intimating to him that since possession of the building had been handed over to the appellant the respondent should pay rent to the appellant and otherwise deal directly with him with effect from 30th August
This letter was addressed to the respondent because at that time the respondent was in possession of one other shop in the same building as a tenant and pursuant to this letter he attorned tenancy in respect of that shop to the appellant
On 1st September 1956 the appellant let out the shop in dispute thereinafter referred to as the prem ises to the respondent and the latter continued in posses sion of the premises as a monthly tenant
However on 10th August 1959 the appellant gave a notice to quit terminating the tenancy of the respondent and calling upon him to hand over vacant possession of the premises by the mid night of 31st August 1959
The respondent declined to comply with the requisition contained in the notice and hence the appel lant filed a suit in the Court of the Senior Subordinate Judge Delhi on 15th September 1959 for recovery of posses sion of the premises from the respondent
There was also a claim made in the suit for recovery of arrears of rent but this claim is no longer material and we need not dwell on it
The respondent resisted the claim for eviction inter alia on the ground that the certificate of sale not having been issued in favour of the 62 appellant he was not the owner of the premises and hence he was not legally competent to let out the premises to the respondent nor was he entitled to recover possession of the premises from the respondent
The respondent also disputed the jurisdiction of the court on the ground that the
Delhi Rent Control Act 1958 which had come into force on 9th February 1959 was applicable to the tenancy of the premises and by reason of section 50 of that Act the civil court had no jurisdiction to entertain the suit
The Trial Court took the view on a reading of the decision of this Court in Ms Bombay Salt and Chemical Industries vs LJ Johnson 1 that since the certificate of sale was not issued in favour of the appellant he had not become the owner of the premises and the premises continued to belong to the Government and by reason of section 3 which provided that Nothing in this Act shall apply to any premises be longing to the Government the Delhi Rent Control Act 1958 was not applicable to the tenancy in respect of the premises and the civil court had jurisdiction to entertain the suit
The Trial Court  also
held that since the full purchase price had been paid by the appellant and posses sion of the premises had been handed over by the managing officer to the appellant on 30th August 1956 the appellant was legally competent to let out the premises to the re spondent and the premises having been lawfully let out by the appellant to the respondent there was relationship of landlord and tenant between the parties and since the tenancy was validly terminated by the appellant by giving notice to
quit in accordance with the provisions of section 106 of the Transfer of Property Act the appellant was entitled to recover possession of the premises from the respondent
A decree for eviction was accordingly passed by the Trial Court in favour of the appellant
The respondent preferred an appeal but the appeal was dismissed  by the Additional District Judge Delhi on substantially the same view as that taken by the Trial Court
This was followed by a second appeal to the High Court but that appeal also met with the same fate and the decree for eviction became final between the parties
Now before the decree for eviction could be executed an amendment was made in section 3 of the Delhi Rent Control Act 1958 which is very material
We shall immediately refer to this amendment but before we do so it would be convenient to advert too few relevant provisionsof the Delhi Rent Control Act 1958
This Act came into force with effect from 9th February 1959 and it was intended to provide inter alia for control of rents and evictions
Section 14 sub section 1 granted protection to the tenant against eviction by providing that notwithstanding anything contained in any other law or contract no order or decree for recovery of possession of any premises shall be made by any court or Controller in favour of the landlord against a tenant but the proviso
to this sub section laid down certain grounds on which the Controller could on an appli cation made to him in the prescribed manner make an order for recovery of possession of the premises
Since the jurisdiction to make 1 AIR 1958 SC 289
63 an order for recovery of possession of premises on one or more of the specified grounds was given to the Controller under section 14 subsection 1 section 50 ousted the jurisdiction of the civil court by declaring that save as otherwise expressly provided in the Act no civil court shall entertain any suit or proceeding in so far as it relates inter alia to eviction of any tenant from any prem ises to which the Act applies or to any other matter which the Controller is empowered by or under the Act to decide
If therefore the premises in the present case were prem ises to which the Act applied the civil court would have no jurisdiction to entertain the suit filed by the appellant for recovery of possession of the premises from the respond ent
But section 3 as it stood prior to its amendment by Act 4 of 1963 provided that nothing in the Act shall apply to any premises belonging to the Government
The view taken by the Trial Court and affirmed by the Additional District Judge and the High Court was that since the certificate of sale was not issued in favour of the appellant the premises continued to belong to the Government and on this view the Act clearly did not apply tO the premises and neither sec tion 14 sub section 1 nor section 50 being applicable the civil court continued to have jurisdiction to entertain the suit
This was the reason why the decree for eviction was passed by the Trial Court against the respondent and it was affirmed by the Additional District Judge and the High Court
But by the time the decree for eviction came to be executed the following proviso was added in section 3 by Act 4 of 1963 with retrospective effect Provided that where any premises be longing to Government have been or are lawful ly let by any person by virtue of an agreement with the Government or otherwise then not withstanding any judgment decree or order of any court or other authority the provisions of this Act shall apply to such tenancy
 The effect of the addition of the proviso with retro spective effect was as if the proviso had always been there right from the time when the Act was enacted
Therefore when an application was flied by the appellant for execution of the decree for eviction against the respondent on 31st August 1963 an objection was raised on behalf of the respondent that by reason of the retrospective introduction of the proviso in section 3 the decree for eviction was rendered null and void as a decree passed by a court without jurisdiction and hence it was not executable against the respondent
This objection was negatived by the executing court on the ground that that was not an objection which could be entertained in execution and the executing court must proceed to execute the decree which had become final between the parties
The respondent preferred an appeal but the first appellate court took the view that on the facts of the case the proviso to section 3 was not attracted and hence the decree for eviction could not be said to be one passed by a court without jurisdiction and on this view it upheld the order of the executing court and rejected the appeal
This led to the filing of a further appeal and in this appeal the High Court held that since the certificate of sale was hot issued in favour of the appellant the building continued to belong 64 to the Government but the appellant having paid the full purchase price of the building and the sale of the building in favour of the appellant having been confirmed and posses sion having been handed over to him in pursuance of the sale the appellant was legally competent to let out the premises to the respondent and the letting of the the prem ises by the appellant in favour of the respondent on 1st September 1956 was lawful and hence the condition for the applicability of the proviso to section 3 was satisfied and since the proviso was introduced in section 3 with retro spective effect it must be held that the Act was applicable to the premises at the date of the institution of the suit and consequently the civil court had no jurisdiction to entertain the suit and in that view the decree for eviction was a nullity
The High Court accordingly allowed the appeal and held that the decree for eviction being null and void could not be executed against the respondent
This view taken by the
High Court is challenged in the present appeal preferred by special leave obtained from this Court
Now the law is well settled that an executing court cannot go behind the decree nor can it question its legali ty or correctness
But there is one exception to this gener al rule and that is that where the decree sought to be executed is a nullity for lack of inherent jurisdiction in the court passing it its invalidity can be set up in an execution proceeding
Where there is lack of inherent jurisdiction it goes to the root of the competence of the court to try the case and a decree which is a nullity is void and can be declared to be void by any court in which it is presented
Its nullity can be set up whenever and whenever it is sought to be enforced or relied upon and even at the stage of execution or even in collateral proceedings
The executing court can therefore entertain an objection that the decree is a nullity and can refuse to execute the decree
By doing so the executing court would not incur the reproach that it is going behind the decree because the the decree being null and void there would really be no decree at all
Vide Kiran Singh vs Chaman Paswan1 and Seth Hiralal Patni vs Sri Kali Nath2 It is therefore obvious that in the present case it was competent to the executing court to examine whether the decree for eviction was a nullity on the ground that the civil court had no inherent jurisdiction to entertain the suit in which the decree for eviction was passed
If the decree for eviction was a nullity the executing court could declare it to be such and decline to execute it against the respondent
The position which obtained when the suit for eviction was instituted by the appellant against the respondent was that section 3 as it stood prior toits amendment by Act 4 of 1963 was in force and that excluded the applicability of the Delhi Rent Control Act
1958 to premises belonging to the Government
The premises in the present case were vested in the Government under section 12 of the Displaced Persons Compensation  Rehabilitation Act 1954 and they were sold by public auction to the appellant and though full purchase price 1  2  65 was paid by the appellant and the sale was confirmed in his favor and possession was also handed over to him the cer tificate of sale was for some inexplicable reason not issued in his favour
The Trial Court therefore took the view and this view was affirmed by the Additional District Judge as well as the High Court that the appellant did not become the owner of the premises and they continued to belong to the Government and for this reason it was held that the Delhi Rent Control Act 1958 did not apply to the premises and the civil court had jurisdiction to entertain the suit for eviction
The Trial Court also found and this finding too was accepted by the Additional District Judge as well as the High Court that though the certificate of sale was not issued in his favour the appellant was competent to let out the premises and the letting of the premises by him in favour of the respondent on 1st Septem ber 1956 was lawful and since the tenancy of the respond ent was validly terminated by the appellant by giving notice to quit the appellant was entitled to a decree for eviction against the respondent
But as pointed out above section 3 was amended with retrospective effect by the introduction of the proviso and the question is whether the introduction of the proviso with retrospective effect had the effect of rendering the decree for eviction null and void
Since the proviso was introduced with retrospective effect it must be deemed to be part of section 3 since the time that the Delhi Rent Control Act 1958 was enacted
It was pointed out by Lord Asquith of Bishopstone in East End Dwellings Co Ltd vs Finsbury Borough Council1 in a passage which has become classical by reason of its felicity of language that if you are bidden to treat an imaginary state of affairs as real you must surely unless prohibited from doing so also imagine as real the consequences and incidents which if the putative state of affairs had in fact existed must inevitably have flowed from or accompa nied it
One of those in this case is emancipation from the 1939 level of rents
The statute Says that you must imagine a certain state of affairs it does not say that having done so you must cause or permit your imagination to boggle when it comes to the inevitable corollaries of that state of
affairs
The proviso must therefore for all legal pur poses be deemed to have been included in section 3 as from the date of enactment of the Delhi Rent
Control Act 1958
If that be the true position then obviously it must be held that the provisions of the Delhi Rent Control Act 1958 were applicable to the tenancy of the respondent for the premises though belonging to the Government were law fully let out by the appellant to the respondent and the condition of the proviso was satisfied
That was the posi tion which by reason of the legal fiction brought about by the retrospective introduction of the proviso in section 3 must be held to have prevailed at the date
of the institu tion of the suit and the provisions of the Delhi Rent Con trol Act 1958 being applicable it must be concluded that the civil court had no inherent jurisdiction to entertain the suit vide section 50 and the decree for eviction was a nullity
Prima facie it may appear somewhat strange that a decree for eviction which was good and valid when it was made should be treated as null and void by 1 1952 A C 132
66 virtue of the retrospective introduction of the proviso in section 3
But such a result is necessarily involved in the legal fiction created by the retrospective operation of the proviso
If as a result of the said fiction we must read the proviso as forming part of section 3 as from the date of enactment of the Delhi Rent Control Act 1958 the conclu sion is inescapable that the civil court had no inherent jurisdiction to entertain the suit and the Trial Court as well as the Additional District Judge and the High Court were in error in exercising jurisdiction in relation to the suit when their Jurisdiction was clearly excluded by section 50
The appellant however urged that the introduction of the proviso in section 3 should not be given greater retro spective operation than necessary and it should not be so construed as to affect decrees for eviction which had al ready become final between the parties
Now it is true and that is a settled principle of construction that the court ought not to give a larger retrospective operation to a statutory provision than what can plainly be seen to have been meant by the legislature
This rule of interpretation is hallowed by time and sanctified by decisions though we are not at all sure whether it should have validity in the context of changed social norms and values
But even so we do not see how the retrospective introduction of the proviso in section 3 can be construed so as to leave unimpaired a decree for eviction already passed when the question arises in execution whether it is a nullity
The logical and inevitable consequence of the introduction of the proviso in section 3 with retrospective effect would be to read the proviso as if it were part or the section at the date when the Delhi Rent Control Act 1958 was enacted and the legal fiction created by the retrospective operation must be carried to its logical extent and all the consequences and incidents must be worked out as if the proviso formed part of the section right from the beginning
This would clearly render the decree for eviction a nullity and since in execu tion proceeding an objection as to nullity of a decree can always be raised and the executing court can examine whether the decree iS a nullity the principle of finality of the decree cannot be invoked by the appellant to avoid the consequences and incidents flowing from the retrospective introduction of the proviso in section 3
Moreover the words notwithstanding any Judgment decree or order of any court or or other authority in the proviso make it clear and leave no doubt that the legislature intended that the finality of judgment decree or order of any court or other authority should not stand in the way of giving full effect to the retrospective introduction of the proviso in section 3 and applying the provisions of the Delhi Rent Control Act 1958 in cases falling m the proviso
We are therefore of the view that the High Court was right in taking the view that by reason of the introduction of the proviso in section 3 with retrospective effect the decree for eviction was a nullity and the executing court was justified in declining to execute it against the re spondent
67 We accordingly dismiss the appeal with costs throughout but order and direct the respondent to pay to the appellant all the arrears of rent in respect of the premises which remain to be paid by him to the appellant in the following installments Rs 2000 on or before 30th April 1977 and out of the balance a further sum of Rs 2000 within three months thereafter and the balance if any by 31st October 1977
The respondent through his counsel under takes to make payment of the arrears in the manner afore said
PHP Appeal dismissed


Summary:
The appellant purchased in a public auction a building which was evacuee property
Before the sale certificate was made out in favour of the appellant the possession of the building was handed over to him
He in turn let out a shop in the said building to the respondent
The appellant filed a suit for eviction in the Civil Court against the respond ent
The Civil Court passed a decree for eviction and negatived the contention of the respondent that the Delhi Rent Control Act 1958 was applicable and therefore the jurisdiction of the Civil Court was barred
The Court relied on section 3 of the Delhi Rent Control Act which provides that nothing in the Act shall apply to any premises belonging to the Government
The decree for eviction was confirmed by the Appellate Court and then by the High Court in Second Appeal
Before the decree could be executed section 3 was amended by adding a proviso with retrospective effect which provided that where any premises belonging to Government have been lawfully let out by any person then notwithstanding any judgment decree or order of any court the provisions of the Act would apply to the tenancy
The Executing Court held that it was not competent to it to go into the question whether the decree was rendered d nullity on the ground that the jurisdiction of the Civil Court was ousted by the introduction of the proviso in section 3 with retrospective effect since the decree had become final between the parties
The Appellate Court upheld the said decision
The High Court in Second Appeal reversed the decision of the two courts below and held that the decree was a nullity and could not be executed
Dismissing the appeal this Court HELD 1 An executing court cannot go behind the
decree nor can it question its legality or correctness but where a decree sought to be executed is a nullity for lack of inherent jurisdiction in the court passing it its inva lidity can be set up in an execution proceeding
64C D Vide Kiran Singh vs Chaman Paswan and Seth Hiralal Patni vs Sri Kali Nath   followed
2 Since the proviso was introduced with retrospective effect it must be deemed to be part of section 3Since
the time the Delhi Rent Control Act was enacted
65 D East End Dwellings Co Ltd vs Finsbury Borough Council 1952 AC 132 approved
As a result of the fiction the proviso must be deemed to be part of section 3 from the date of enactment of the Act
The logical and inevitable Consequence of the introduction of the proviso
in section 3 with retrospective effect would be to read the proviso as if it were part of the section at the date when the Act was enacted and the legal fiction created by the retrospective operation must be carried to its logical extent and all the consequences and incidents must be worked out as if the proviso forms part of the section right from the beginning
The phrase notwithstand ing any judgment decree or order of any court in the proviso makes it clear that the legislature intended that the finality of the judgmentdecree etc should not stand in the way of giving full effect to the retrospective operation of the proviso in section 3
66C G 61