Case: Bai Hiragauri Vs. Abdul Kadar Mamadji &amp; Another

2. Bai Hiragaurithe appellant, is the aggrieved landlady and the respondents Abdul Kadar Mamadji and Abdul Rahim Musaji respectively are the tenants. The suits were for their eviction. Abdul Kadar was let out the premises bearing no. 1155 on a monthly rent of Rs. 23/and Abdul Rahim was let out another shop bearing no.and the monthly rent was Rs.The tenants had agreed to bear the dues in respect of municipal taxes and consumption of electricity. Abdul Kadar did not pay the rent from 1st November, 1956 to 31st August, 1957 and similarly Abdul Rahim was in arrears of rent from 1st February, 1957 to 31st August, 1957. Under the law, they were liable to be evicted for being in arrears for more than six months. As required by law the landlady gave them notice of eviction oncalling upon them to pay the arrears of rent and to quit and deliver up vacant possession of the shops in their possession on or before the 30th September, 1957. The tenants did not pay up nor did they send a reply to the notice. So the landlady filed two separate suits one being Civil Suit No. 4613/1957 and the other being 2612/1957. The suits were contested. Both the suits were consolidated and disposed of together. The Trial court by its judgment dated the 17th November, 1960 held that the tenants were in arrears for more than the statutory six months; that the standard rent was the same as claimed by the landlady; that the tenants were liable to pay the municipal tax in addition and that in view of S. 12 (3) (a) of the Bombay Rent Act, as applied to the Gujarat area, both the tenants were liable to be evicted.

Court's reasoning:
5. It is obvious from the Judgment of the High Court that it interfered with the concurrent findings of the lower courts on the ground that it had jurisdiction to deal with the cases under Section 29 (2). It seems to have escaped the learned Judges notice that the revisions before him arose out of suits which had been filed in 1957. Therefore, though the revisions were heard after the 1965 amendment referred to above the revisions were not liable to be disposed of under the changed law.We do not think any useful purpose will be served by sending the cases back to the High Court. As already pointed out the learned Judge interfered in these cases only because he thought that he had jurisdiction to do so under Section 29 (2) as amended. It is obvious that he had recourse to that section because in view of the decided cases, he could not have interfered with the final decision of the City Civil Court under Section 115, C.P.C. The court in which the suits had been filed had jurisdiction to consider whether the suits fell within Section 12 (3) (a) or Section 12 (3) (b). Both the courts held on the facts that the cases fell under Section 12 (3) (a). Even if that finding was erroneous in law and we do not want to suggest that itcourts had jurisdiction and it cannot be said that that jurisdiction was exercised illegally or with material irregularity. The worst that could be said is that they had placed an erroneous construction on the relevant provisions. It has been held by this court in Ratilal v. Ranchhodbhai, AIR 1966 SC 439  which was also a case under the same Rent Act that an erroneous construction placed upon a statute does not amount to exercising jurisdiction illegally or with material irregularity and would not furnish a ground for interference under Section 115 C.P.C. See also Abbasbhai v. Gulamnabi, AIR 1964 SC 1341 .