Case: Om Prakash Vs. Suresh Kumar

decision, which reads thus: 32. Generally, admissions of fact made by a counsel are binding upon their principals as long as they are unequivocal; where, however, doubt exists as to a purported admission, the court should be wary to accept such admissions until and unless the counsel or the advocate is authorised by his principal to make such admissions. Furthermore, a client is not bound by a statement or admission which he or his lawyer was not authorised to make. A lawyer generally has no implied or apparent authority to make an admission or statement which would directly surrender or conclude the substantial legal rights of the client unless such an admission or statement is clearly a proper step in accomplishing the purpose for which the lawyer was employed. We hasten to add neither the client nor the court is bound by the lawyers statements or admissions as to matters of law or legal conclusions. Thus, according to generally accepted notions of professional responsibility, lawyers should follow the clients instructions rather than substitute their judgment for that of the client. We may add that in some cases, lawyers can make decisions without consulting the client. While in others, the decision is reserved for the client. It is often said that the lawyer can make decisions as to tactics without consulting the client, while the client has a right to make decisions that can affect his rights. (emphasis supplied) As aforesaid, in the present case, the counsel who was engaged by the appellant and had appeared for him before the High Court did not, stricto sensu, transgress the authority conferred on him by the appellant. Notably, the appellant filed review petition before the High Court by engaging another Advocate for reasons best known to him. This Court has deprecated the conduct of such petitioners and has opined that such review petitions should not be encouraged and need to be dismissed, as expounded in Tamil Nadu Electricity Board & Anr. vs. Raju Reddiar & Anr. (1997) 9 SCC 736 Not only that, even before this Court, the appellant, advisedly, showed willingness to explore possibility of settlement as is evident from different orders recorded above. It is obvious that the delivery of possession of the suit premises, then in possession of the respondent, was expedited and made over to the appellant only after intervention of this Court, which indulgence was shown because the appellant had expressed inclination to spare portion of premises for the respondent. Only after this Court intervened, the appellant could take the construction of proposed building forward and completed it on 19.6.2018. In terms of the order dated 14.11.2017 of this Court, it was made absolutely clear that the appellant will not put the newly constructed premises to use without seeking prior permission of this Court. That permission is yet to be given to the appellant. 12. The argument of the appellant that the respondent cannot take benefit of amendment to Section 14(3)(c) of the Himachal Pradesh Urban Rent Control Act, 1987 in the form of Himachal Pradesh Rent Control (Amendment) Act, 2008, will be of no avail to the fact situation of the present case. For, in this case, the appellant is obliged to abide by the unequivocal statement made before the Court to re-induct the respondent-tenant in the newly constructed building and to provide him same area which was being used by him earlier, namely, 36.53 square meters. Considering the above, the appellant cannot be permitted to extricate himself from the obligation flowing from the impression given to the Court (before the High Court and again before this Court) and need to be bound by the same. 13. However, from the subsequent affidavits filed before this Court, it is obvious that the entire ground floor cannot be given to the respondent. Initially, the appellant had given an offer to accommodate the respondent on the upper floor, but it is noticed that the staircase going towards the upper floors (namely, first and second floor) in the newly constructed building passes through the ground floor itself. The same is erected at the rear side within the building (being triplex house). The photographs produced before us, however, depict that an opening (exit door) is provided on the rear side of the building, on the ground floor, which opens towards plot No. 778 (which the appellant had transferred in favour of his son during the pendency of these appeals). In other words, it is possible to provide access to the upper floors from the rear side of the building, which also opens on the road (as a car parked at that entrance can be seen in the photographs) or portion of plot being khasra No. 778 (now owned by the appellants son). The fact remains that the staircase has been erected in such a manner, for the reasons best known to the appellant, that the access to first and second floors would be possible only through the ground floor premises, as it is inside the building and not outside the building. 14. At the conclusion of the proceedings, the learned counsel for the appellant without prejudice, gave offer to provide portion of the marked ground floor premises to the respondent, admeasuring 2.25 meters x 7.57 meters by carving out a passage within the ground floor providing access for upper floors through the staircase from the front door of the newly constructed building. The proposed ground floor plan, as submitted by the appellant through counsel is as follows: - IMAGE 15. This offer has been turned down by the respondent, firstly because the area of the premises will get reduced to just about 17.0325 square meters instead of the original area, admeasuring 36.53 square meters. Moreover, the premises, as offered, would be unusable for carrying on the business as cloth merchant therefrom. The width being just 2.25 meters (7.382 feet) will not be enough to accommodate sale counter and stock storage space; and moreso leaving no space for free movement of customers/sales persons.

Decision (1 = appeal accepted, 0 = rejected): 1

Explanation:
1[ds]From the tenor of the statement made before the High Court on behalf of the appellant, it is obvious that it is an unequivocal statement made by the counsel engaged by the appellant to espouse his (appellants) cause before the High Court. It is not the case of the appellant that he had expressly instructed his counsel not to make such a statement. Further, the statement was in respect of the commitment of the appellant qua the subject matter of the proceedings in which the counsel was engaged and instructed to appear. Not only that, right from the beginning and even before this Court, an attempt was made by the parties to explore possibility of working out an amicable solution, as is evident from the order dated 9.1.2017 before the respondent was put to notice of these appeals, and more particularly, dated 14.11.201710. Considering the above, the appellant cannot now be allowed to resile from the statement made before the High Court, which the High Court justly declined to undo in the review petition filed by the appellant for that purpose. In the peculiar facts of this case, the decision of this Court in Himalayan Coop. Group Housing Society (supra) will be of no avail to the appellant. Inasmuch as, it is not a case where the counsel, who made the statement was not engaged by the appellant before the High Court. The engagement was in respect of eviction proceedings and the statement was in relation to the commitment of the appellant qua the subject matter thereof and being an unequivocal statement, it will be binding on the appellant. In any case, even this Court showed indulgence to the appellant on the basis of impression given to this Court about the possibility of at least sparing a small room for the respondent, which was the basis for issuing notice to the respondent, as is evident from the orders dated 9.1.2017 and 15.2.2017As aforesaid, in the present case, the counsel who was engaged by the appellant and had appeared for him before the High Court did not, stricto sensu, transgress the authority conferred on him by the appellant. Notably, the appellant filed review petition before the High Court by engaging another Advocate for reasons best known to him. This Court has deprecated the conduct of such petitioners and has opined that such review petitions should not be encouraged and need to be dismissed, as expounded in Tamil Nadu Electricity Board & Anr. vs. Raju Reddiar & Anr. (1997) 9 SCC 736   Not only that, even before this Court, the appellant, advisedly, showed willingness to explore possibility of settlement as is evident from different orders recorded above. It is obvious that the delivery of possession of the suit premises, then in possession of the respondent, was expedited and made over to the appellant only after intervention of this Court, which indulgence was shown because the appellant had expressed inclination to spare portion of premises for the respondent. Only after this Court intervened, the appellant could take the construction of proposed building forward and completed it on 19.6.2018. In terms of the order dated 14.11.2017 of this Court, it was made absolutely clear that the appellant will not put the newly constructed premises to use without seeking prior permission of this Court. That permission is yet to be given to the appellant12. The argument of the appellant that the respondent cannot take benefit of amendment to Section 14(3)(c) of the Himachal Pradesh Urban Rent Control Act, 1987 in the form of Himachal Pradesh Rent Control (Amendment) Act, 2008, will be of no avail to the fact situation of the present case. For, in this case, the appellant is obliged to abide by the unequivocal statement made before the Court to re-induct the respondent-tenant in the newly constructed building and to provide him same area which was being used by him earlier, namely, 36.53 square meters. Considering the above, the appellant cannot be permitted to extricate himself from the obligation flowing from the impression given to the Court (before the High Court and again before this Court) and need to be bound by the same13. However, from the subsequent affidavits filed before this Court, it is obvious that the entire ground floor cannot be given to the respondent. Initially, the appellant had given an offer to accommodate the respondent on the upper floor, but it is noticed that the staircase going towards the upper floors (namely, first and second floor) in the newly constructed building passes through the ground floor itself. The same is erected at the rear side within the building (being triplex house). The photographs produced before us, however, depict that an opening (exit door) is provided on the rear side of the building, on the ground floor, which opens towards plot No. 778 (which the appellant had transferred in favour of his son during the pendency of these appeals). In other words, it is possible to provide access to the upper floors from the rear side of the building, which also opens on the road (as a car parked at that entrance can be seen in the photographs) or portion of plot being khasra No. 778 (now owned by the appellants son). The fact remains that the staircase has been erected in such a manner, for the reasons best known to the appellant, that the access to first and second floors would be possible only through the ground floor premises, as it is inside the building and not outside the building15. This offer has been turned down by the respondent, firstly because the area of the premises will get reduced to just about 17.0325 square meters instead of the original area, admeasuring 36.53 square meters. Moreover, the premises, as offered, would be unusable for carrying on the business as cloth merchant therefrom. The width being just 2.25 meters (7.382 feet) will not be enough to accommodate sale counter and stock storage space; and moreso leaving no space for free movement of customers/sales persons.