Case: Kuldeep Singh Vs. Ganpat Lal

2. This appeal by the tenant arises out of a suit for eviction filed by the respondents under the provisions of the Rajasthan Premises (Control of Rent and Eviction) Act, 1950 (hereinafter referred to as the `Act). It relates to a shop situated at Udaipur in Rajasthan. Under Section 13(1)(a) of the Act, the tenant can be evicted from the premises if he has neither paid nor tendered the amount of rent due from him for six months. Sub-Section (6) of Section 13 affords protection to the tenant from eviction if the tenant deposits in court or pays to the landlord the amount determined by the Court in terms of sub-sections (3) and (4) of Section 13 of the Act. This protection is, however, not available, if the tenant after having obtained such benefit in respect of the premises again makes a default in the payment of rent of the said premises for six months. The respondent landlords had filed a suit (Suit No. 117 of 1981) against the appellant for his eviction on the ground of default in the payment of rent and protection under Section 13(6) of the Act was given to the appellant in those proceedings. On December 20, 1982 the respondents filed a second suit (Suit No. 169 of 1983) which has given rise to this appeal in the Court of District Judge at Udaipur for the eviction of the appellant on the ground that he has defaulted for the second time in payment of rent, inasmuch as he had not paid the rent for six months from May 1, 1982. The said suit was contested by the appellant, who denied that he had committed a second default in payment of rent for six months. The case of the appellant was that he had paid the rent for five months from May, 1982 to September, 1982 in cash to the respondents and 10 days later on October 21, 1982 when he went to them for collecting the receipt for the said payment, they refused to give the said receipt and returned the amount which was paid by the appellant to the respondents by way of rent. The appellant claims that thereupon on October 22, 1982, he submitted an application under Section 19-A of the Act in the Court of Munsiff (South), Udaipur narrating the aforesaid facts and seeking permission of the court to deposit the rent for the months of May to October, 1982 in the Court and that after obtaining the permission of the Court, the appellant on October 29, 1982 deposited the sum of Rs. 3,600/- in the court by way of rent for the period from May, 1982 to October, 1982 by tender No. 1711 dated October 29, 1982 and that the notice of application submitted by the appellant under Section 19-A of the Act had been issued to the respondents. The said suit of the respondents was dismissed by the Additional District Judge No. 1, Udaipur by his judgment dated July 2, 1987 on the view that the appellant could not be held to be a defaulter in the payment of rent since he had deposited the rent for the months of May, 1982 to October, 1982 in the Court on 29th October, 1982 before the rent for six months fell due. The respondents filed an appeal against the said judgment of the Addl. District Judge in the High Court of Rajasthan. The said appeal was allowed by a learned Single Judge of the High Court by his judgment dated January 26, 1989. The learned Judge, after considering the evidence adduced by the appellant, had held that his plea about payment of rent personally to the respondents had no legs to stand. The learned Judge further held that the deposit by the appellant in the court under Section 19-A of the Act was not a valid deposit and the appellant could not claim any benefit on the basis of the said deposit under Section 19-A inasmuch as the appellant had not adopted the procedure as laid down in sub-section (3) of Section 19-A before making the said deposit and that the appellant had committed a second default in payment of rent for six months. The learned Single Judge rejected the contention urged on behalf of the appellant that the cause of action had not arisen on November 1, 1982 because the rent for the month of October could have been paid by November 15 and that on November 1, 1982 the rent for five months only was due and not for six months. The learned single Judge has held that the rent for a particular month becomes due as soon as the month ends and under the provisions of the Act it was made payable by a particular date, i.e. the 15th of next following month, but it was only a facility provided to the tenant to pay the rent by that date and it does not mean that the rent for the month of October had not become due on November 1, 1982. The special appeal filed by the appellant against the said judgment of the learned Single Judge was dismissed by the Division Bench of the High Court by the impugned judgment dated March 8, 1989. Hence, the appeal.

Court's reasoning:
5. The High Court has held that in view of the language of clause (c) of sub-section (3) of Section 19-A, a deposit in the court can be made only if the conditions laid down in clause (c) are fulfilled and if the said conditions are not fulfilled, the deposit would not be treated as a valid deposit under clause (c) of sub-section (3) of Section 19-A and would not entitle the tenant to avail the benefit of sub-section (4) of Section 19-A. It has been held that in the instant case, it is not the case of the appellant that he had remitted the amount of rent due from him by postal money order and the same had been received back by him under the postal endorsement of refusal or unfound, nor is it the case of the appellant that he had asked the respondents to indicate the bank account number in which the rent may be deposited by the appellant to the credit of the respondents and the respondents had failed to specify the bank and account number and that it is also not the case of the appellant that there was a bona fide doubt as to the person or persons to whom the rent was payable.We have carefully perused the said judgments. Both these judgments relate to the proviso to Section 13(2)(i) of the East Punjab Urban Rent Restriction Act, 1949 which affords protection against eviction of the tenant if on the first hearing on the application for ejectment after due service he pays or tenders the arrears of rent and interest at six per cent per annum on such arrears together with the cost of application assessed by the Controller. In both these cases, the tenant had deposited the amount of rent in the Court in which the ejectment proceedings were pending prior to the first hearing of the application and on the first hearing the landlord was made aware of the deposit. This Court has held that even though there was no provision in the Act for deposit of the rent in Court the said deposit could be treated as compliance of the requirements of the proviso to Section 13(2)(i) of the East Punjab Urban Restriction Act, 1949 and the tenant was entitled to avail the benefit of the said proviso.8. In the present case, the appellant is seeking to avail the benefit of the legal fiction under Section 19-A(4) of the Act. It is settled law that a legal fiction is to be limited to the purpose for which it is created and should not be extended beyond that legitimate filed. The Bengal Immunity Company Limited v. The State of Bihar and others, 1955(2) SCP 603 at 646. The appellant can avail the benefit of Section 19-A (4) if the deposit of Rs. 3,600/- made by him in the Court of Munsiff (South), Udaipur, on October 29, 1982 by way of rent for the months of May, 1982 to October, 1982, can be treated as a payment under Section 19-A (3)(c) so as to enable the appellant to say that he was not in default in payment of rent. Under Section 19-A (3)(c) the tenant can deposit the rent in the Court only if the conditions laid down in the said provision are satisfied. It is the admitted case of the appellant that these conditions are not satisfied in the present case. The deposit which was made by the respondent in Court on October 29, 1982 cannot, therefore, be regarded as a deposit made in accordance with clause (c) of sub-section (3) Section 19-A and the appellant cannot avail the protection of sub-section (4) of Section 19-A and he must be held to have committed default in payment of rent for the months of March, 1982 to October, 1982. This means that the decree for eviction has been rightly passed against the appellant on account of default in payment of rent of the period of six months.