Case: Burmah Shell Oil Distributing Now Known As Bharat Petroleum Vs. Khaja Midhat Noor and Others

or consistent in the statements embodied in them, may still be good and effective in law; that the test of their sufficiency is not what they would mean to a stranger ignorant of all the facts and circumstances touching the holding to which they purport to refer, but what they would mean to tenants presumably conversant with all those facts and circumstances; and, further, that they are to be construed, not with a desire to find faults in them which would render them defective, but to be construed ut res magis valeat quam pereat." 7. This is how the notices should be literally construed. This decision was relied upon by this Court in Mangilal v. Sugan chand Rathi, [1964] 5 S.C.R. 239. There, however, the facts were different. There the defendant was a tenant of the plaintiffs. The defendant was in arrears of rent for one year to the extent of Rs. 1020. On April 11, 1959 the plaintiffs served a notice on the defendant requiring him to remit to them Rs.1020 within one month from the date of service of notice, failing which suit for ejectment would be filed. This notice was received by the defendant on April 16, 1959. On June 25, 1959 the defendant sent a reply to the notice enclosing with it a cheque for Rs.1320. This amount consisted of the rental arrears as well as the rent due right up to June 30, 1959. The plaintiffs accepted the cheque and cashed it and gave a fresh not ice on July 9, 1959 requiring the defendant to vacate the premises by the end of the month of July. The defendant did not vacate the premises. Then the plaintiffs filed a suit to eject the defendant upon the ground that the latter was in arrears of rent for one year and had failed to pay the arrears within one month of the service of the notice dated April 11, 1959 upon him. From the undisputed facts it was clear that the defendant was in fact in arrears of rent and had failed to pay it within the time prescribed by cl.(a) of section 4 of the Madhya Pradesh Accommodation Control Act, 1953. It was held that though the notice dated 11th April, 1959 could be construed to be composite notice under section 4(a) of the Accommodation Act and section 106 of the Transfer of Property Act it was ineffective under section 106 of the Transfer of Property Act because it was not a notice of 15 clear days. In that case, the defendant had only 14 clear days notice. Reference was made to the aforesaid decision of Harihar Banerji v. Ramsashi Roy (supra) which was distinguished by this Court. This Court held that notice under section 106 of the Act must be strictly complied with. In so holding this Court relied o n a decision of the Calcutta High Court in Subadini v. Durga Charan Law, I.L.R. 28 Cal. 118 which was construing a notice contemplated by section 106 of the Act and had held that in calculating the 15 days notice the day on which the notice was served was excluded and even if the day on which it expired was taken into account it would be clear that the defendant had only 14 clear days notice. This position was again reiterated by the Calcutta High Court in Gobinda Chandra Saha v. Dwarka Nath Patita, A.I.R. 1915 Cal. 313. This Court affirmed this view that notice must be understood in the light of Harihar Banerji v. Ramsashi Roy (supra). This Court held that the suit was actually based upon the notice dated July 9, 1959 which gave more than 15 days clear notice to the defendant to vacate the premises. This notice was a valid notice under section 106 of the Act. In the instant case if all the paragraphs of Ext. 7 which is a notice in the instant case are read together in harmony it would be manifest that the lessee was directed to hand-over the lease hold property on 16th January, 1973.In the aforesaid view of the matter, in our opinion, there was a valid notice of termination of the lease of the lessee. In any event the lessee did not dispute this contention. The lessee accepted a valid termination of the lease hold property. 8. In Roop Chand Gupta v. Raghuvanshi (Pvt.) Ltd. and another, A.I.R. 1964 S.C. 1889, it was held by t his Court that it is quite clear that law does not require that the sub-lessee need be made a party, if there was a valid termination of the lease. This Court reiterated that in all cases where the landlord instituted a suit against the les see for possession of the land on the basis of a valid notice to quit served on the lessee and did not implead the sub-lessee as a party to the suit, the object of the landlord is to eject the sub-lessee from the land in execution of the decree and such an object is quite legitimate. The decree in such a suit would bind the sub-lessee. This Court noted at page 1892 of the report that this might act harshly on the sub-lessee; but this was a position well understood b y him when he took the sub-lease. The law allows this and so the omission cannot be said to be an improper act. In the facts of this case these observations apply more effectively. The termination of the lease was not disputed by the lessee. T here is no allegation of any collusion between the lessee and the respondent. 9. In that view of the matter, we are of the opinion that the High Court was right. The suit in question was instituted in May, 1979 and the valid notice to quit was given long after the expiry of the period of lease. The sub-lessee had long innings. It is time for him to quit. There is no merit in this petition.

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

Explanation:
0[ds]In that view of the matter, we are of the opinion that the High Court was right. The suit in question was instituted in May, 1979 and the valid notice to quit was given long after the expiry of the period of lease. The sub-lessee had long innings. It is time for him to quit. There is no merit in this petition.