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Madan Mohan (Dead) Through LRs v. Thakar Dass (Dead) Through LRs

Civil Appeal · 2026 INSC 730Decided 21 Jul 2026
Civil Appeal arising out of SLP(C) No.12435 of 2019 (Non-Reportable)
Justice Sanjay Karol · Justice Augustine George Masih

Background

An elderly landlady, Kamla Devi, had sought eviction of a tenant from a shop on two grounds: non-payment of rent and her own and her son's bona fide need to use the premises for business. Both the Rent Controller and the Appellate Authority ruled in the landlady's favour and ordered eviction. The tenant's revision petition succeeded before the Punjab and Haryana High Court, which held that the landlady had not approached the court with clean hands because she had concealed that a third shop she owned was lying vacant (allegedly used to store garbage). By the time the matter reached the Supreme Court, both original parties had died and their legal heirs were pursuing the case.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court restored the eviction order and set aside the High Court's judgment. It held that a landlord's bona fide requirement must be genuine, honest and free of mere pretext, but once the Rent Controller and Appellate Authority had concurrently found on facts that the third shop was being used to store garbage (not lying vacant as usable premises), the High Court had no jurisdiction under Section 115 CPC to re-appreciate that evidence and substitute its own view: revisional jurisdiction is confined to correcting jurisdictional errors, illegality, or perversity, not re-weighing facts like an appellate court. The Court found nothing dishonest in the landlady's case and restored the original eviction, directing the tenant to hand over vacant possession within two months.

Lesson Learnt

A High Court exercising revisional (as opposed to appellate) jurisdiction cannot re-examine and overturn concurrent factual findings of lower courts merely because it would have assessed the evidence differently: revision is meant only to correct clear legal or jurisdictional errors.

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

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