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Krishna Swaroop Agarwal (D) Thr. LR. v. Arvind Kumar

Civil Appeal · 2025 INSC 859Decided 16 Jul 2025
Civil Appeal No. 9518 of 2025 (arising out of SLP(C) No. 26340 of 2017)
Justice Sanjay Karol · Justice Joymalya Bagchi

Background

A landlord in Hathras, Uttar Pradesh let out a shop to a tenant who stopped paying rent from June 1999 onward. The landlord sent legal notices terminating the tenancy under Section 106 of the Transfer of Property Act by registered post; the postal department returned the notice marked "ND" ("Not Delivered"). The Trial Court nonetheless decreed the tenant's eviction in 2011, treating the registered dispatch as sufficient "deemed service." In revision, the Allahabad High Court set aside the eviction decree, holding that since the notice was never actually delivered, it could not be treated as validly served.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court held the High Court's reasoning was legally wrong. Under Section 27 of the General Clauses Act, 1897, once a notice is correctly addressed, properly stamped, and sent by registered post, service is deemed to have been effected, regardless of whether the addressee actually accepts or receives it, unless the addressee proves the contrary. This "deemed service" rule, well established through a long line of the Court's own precedents, meant the endorsement "ND" did not by itself defeat service; the landlord had done everything within his control by properly posting the registered notice. The Court also found the High Court's revisional interference improper on procedural grounds, since none of the recognised grounds for revision (want of jurisdiction, inadmissible evidence relied on, denial of a fair hearing) were present. It restored the Trial Court's eviction decree, directing the tenant to vacate within three months and clear all arrears.

Lesson Learnt

If you send a legal notice (such as a rent-termination notice) correctly addressed by registered post, the law treats it as validly served the moment it is properly posted: the sender is not penalised just because the postal department could not physically deliver it, so a recipient cannot escape legal consequences merely by evading or failing to collect the letter.

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

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