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Mohd. Raza v. Geeta @ Geeta Devi

Civil Appeal · 2021 INSC 609Decided 4 Oct 2021
Civil Appeal No. 6098 of 2021
Justice M.R. Shah · Justice A.S. Bopanna

Background

Geeta Devi sued her tenant and his wife for possession of a Delhi property, claiming to be its owner and that the tenant had illegally sub-let it to his wife. The defendants claimed in their written statement that they were no longer tenants but had become owners after paying Rs. 19 lakh under an agreement to sell, though a separate suit for specific performance of that very agreement was still pending and undecided. The trial court refused to pass an eviction decree based on this written statement, but the Delhi High Court reversed that and ordered eviction, treating the written statement as an admission of the plaintiff's ownership.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court upheld the eviction decree, reasoning that the defendants' own written statement showed they would only become owners once their pending specific performance suit succeeded and a sale deed was executed, so until then, the plaintiff remained the legal owner and the defendant remained the tenant, which amounted to an admission supporting eviction. The Court clarified, however, that this eviction decree is subject to the outcome of the still-pending specific performance suit: if the defendants eventually win that suit, the consequences of any sale deed in their favour would still follow and the plaintiff would have to abide by that outcome, subject to appeal.

Lesson Learnt

Simply having filed an unresolved claim to future ownership under an agreement to sell does not make someone the current legal owner: a tenant cannot resist eviction merely by pointing to a pending ownership claim; until that claim actually succeeds, the landlord's ownership and the tenancy continue to be recognised.

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

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