Nirmal Jeet Singh Hoon vs Irtiza Hussain And Ors

(C) The case of all the defendants including the petitioner was that they did not sub-let the property to the petitioner. All the defendants also contended that they were entitled to a reduction in rent as the plaintiffs were illegally in occupation of large parts of the suit property. The petitioner denied the plaintiffs' claims and in his written statement, he submitted that no proper notice under Section 2 106 of the Transfer of Property Act, 1882 (hereinafter referred to as `TP Act'), had been issued to him and so he could not be evicted. The petitioner also questioned the jurisdiction of the court to entertain the suit and stated that the respondents had illegally sold part of the suit property to a third party, so were not entitled to any relief. (D) In view of the pleadings taken by the parties in the Small Cause Court, the court framed 29 issues and the parties led evidence on the said issues. The court after appreciating the evidence decreed the Suit, vide judgment and decree dated 22.8.2008 against the defendants with cost for ejectment, arrears of rent, restoration of the items of furniture, crockery and cutlery and the defendants were further directed to pay pendent lite and future mesne profits till the date of actual delivery of possession of the suit property. Further, it was held that petitioner was not a sub-tenant in possession of the property and defendant nos. 1 and 2 were in exclusive possession of the premises. (E) The High Court of Uttarakhand at Nainital vide judgment and order dated 23.7.2009 dismissed the Revision Petition filed by the petitioner and upheld the decree of the Small Cause court. The High 3 Court confined its judgment to the questions of arrears of rent and sub-letting. The High Court held that the trial court had jurisdiction to entertain the suit; notice was served on all the parties in accordance with the provisions of Section 106 of the TP Act. The High Court also agreed with the findings of the trial court with respect to the questions relating to the arrears of rent.

(F) Aggrieved by the decision of the High Court, petitioner filed Review Petition No. 633 of 2009. The said Review Petition was heard in the absence of the petitioner, as he did not appear, and dismissed vide order dated 2.9.2009 by a speaking and reasoned order.

(H) Still dissatisfied with the decision of the High Court, the petitioner preferred Reconsideration Application No. 262 of 2010. The said Reconsideration Application was also dismissed as not being maintainable in law vide order dated 23.4.2010. (I) Being aggrieved, these Special Leave Petitions have been filed with application for condonation of delay challenging all the orders passed by the High Court.

Thus, it is evident from the above that the Small Cause Court cannot adjudicate upon the issue of title and, therefore, the trial Court has rightly refused to go into that issue and no fault can be found with the findings by the courts below in this regard. More so, as it has been an admitted fact that defendant Nos. 1 and 2 had been the tenants of the original plaintiffs, the question of title could not be adjudicated at the behest of the petitioner under any circumstance.

(Emphasis added)

14. The petitions lack merit and are, accordingly, dismissed.