Gandhe Vijay Kumar v. Mulji @ Mulchand

Civil Appeal · 2017 INSC 678Decided 27 Jul 2017
Civil Appeal No. 1384 of 2011
Justice Kurian Joseph · Justice R. Banumathi

Background

A landlord sought eviction of his tenant on the ground of bona fide personal requirement of the premises. Both the Rent Controller and the Appellate Authority concurrently found in the landlord's favour. In a revision petition, the High Court re-examined the evidence as if hearing a first appeal and reversed those concurrent findings.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court held that the High Court had misdirected itself and exceeded the limits of revisional jurisdiction, relying on the Constitution Bench ruling in Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd. v. Dilbahar Singh, which clarifies that a revisional court may only check whether a finding is illegal or perverse, not re-appreciate evidence like an appellate court. Since the landlord-tenant relationship and bona fide requirement were undisputed and concurrently found, the High Court could not have substituted its own view merely because another view was possible. The Court set aside the High Court's judgment and restored the Rent Controller's eviction order, while granting the tenant (who ran a hotel on the premises) time until 31 March 2018 to hand over vacant possession, with conditions against creating third-party rights or damaging the property in the interim.

Lesson Learnt

A court exercising revisional jurisdiction cannot act as a second court of first appeal: it can only interfere with factual findings of the courts/authorities below if they are perverse, based on no evidence, or against the law; mere disagreement with a possible view is not enough.

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