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Daya Nand v. Virmo Devi

Civil Appeal · Neutral citation not assigned (Civil Appeal No. 4631 of 2009)Decided 23 Mar 2017
Civil Appeal No. 4631 of 2009
Justice Kurian Joseph · Justice R. Banumathi

Background

The appellant, an elderly tenant, had been ordered evicted by the Rent Controller, and the eviction order was upheld by the High Court. He appealed to the Supreme Court, arguing primarily that the landlord-respondent was not actually the owner of the rented premises.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court declined to disturb the eviction order, noting that both the Rent Controller and the High Court had made concurrent findings of fact against the tenant on the ownership question, and such concurrent findings are not ordinarily reopened at this stage. However, taking a humane view of the tenant's circumstances, he was 78 years old, reportedly bed-ridden, and had lived in the house since 1986, the Court granted him extended time to vacate, until 31 December 2019 (short of the three years he had asked for), on condition that he file the usual undertaking to vacate and continue complying with earlier interim conditions.

Lesson Learnt

Courts will generally not re-examine settled factual findings made consistently by two lower forums, but they can and do exercise compassion in fixing the practical timeline for complying with an eviction order, particularly where the tenant's age or health is a genuine hardship factor.

Official source (sci.gov.in)View Judgment (PDF)

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