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Mukesh Kumar vs. S. Kuldeep Singh

Civil Appeal · 2023 INSC 873Decided 5 Oct 2023
Civil Appeal No. 8641 of 2009
Aniruddha Bose · Sanjay Kumar · S.V.N. Bhatti

Background

Mukesh Kumar was a tenant of a shop in Jalandhar owned by S. Kuldeep Singh, an NRI who had returned to India and sought immediate possession under the summary-eviction provision (Section 13-B) of the East Punjab Urban Rent Restriction Act, 1949, for his own business use. The tenant resisted, arguing the landlord was not really an NRI or the genuine owner, that a related family member had already secured eviction of another shop in the same building (barring further such evictions), and other technical objections. The Rent Controller rejected the tenant's plea for "leave to defend" and ordered eviction; the Punjab and Haryana High Court dismissed the tenant's revision petition, leading to this appeal before the Supreme Court.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court held that the tenant's core objections, disputing the landlord's ownership and NRI status, were factually unsustainable, since the tenant's own conduct (having negotiated to buy the property from the landlord) was inconsistent with denying his ownership, and the landlord's UK passport combined with being born in India satisfied the statutory NRI definition. The Court reaffirmed, relying on its precedents in Baldev Singh Bajwa and Ram Krishan Grover, that a tenant seeking "leave to defend" a Section 13-B summary eviction must show a genuinely strong, well-grounded case going specifically to the statutory ingredients (NRI status, return to India, genuine need, five years' ownership), not just any grievance. It found the tenant had raised new arguments for the first time before the Supreme Court that were never properly pleaded before the Rent Controller, and such new pleas cannot be entertained at this stage. Since the tenant failed to disclose facts that would disentitle the landlord from summary eviction, the courts below had rightly refused leave to defend, and the appeal was dismissed with no order as to costs.

Lesson Learnt

In a summary eviction proceeding under special landlord-protection provisions like Section 13-B, a tenant must raise all their specific factual objections clearly and completely at the very first opportunity (before the Rent Controller): new grounds introduced later, at the High Court or Supreme Court stage, will not be entertained, and vague or inconsistent defences will not earn "leave to defend."

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

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