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Padam Nabh and Sons v. Yash Pal

Civil Appeal · 2021 INSC 741Decided 17 Nov 2021
Civil Appeal No. 5976 of 2014
Justice Hemant Gupta · Justice V. Ramasubramanian

Background

The respondent, a Non-Resident Indian, inherited a small shop (tenanted decades earlier by the appellant's father) after returning to India from Australia and sought the tenant's eviction using a fast-track procedure available specifically to NRI property owners under Section 13-B of the Punjab Rent Act. The tenant resisted, arguing that a Supreme Court Constitution Bench ruling on a similarly worded Delhi rent law provision (which required that the NRI owner himself must have "let out" the premises, not merely inherited it) should also block this eviction. Both the Rent Controller and the High Court ruled against the tenant, who then appealed to the Supreme Court.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court held that the Delhi law precedent did not apply here because the wording, structure, and legislative history of the Punjab Act's NRI-eviction provision differ meaningfully from the Delhi provision: notably, the Punjab Act uses the word "owner" rather than "landlord," and its proviso simply requires five years to have passed since the NRI became the owner, without requiring that the NRI personally created the tenancy. The Court reasoned that once a tenancy is "attorned" (transferred) to a new owner, the premises legally become "let out by him," satisfying the statute. Finding the High Court's interpretation correct, the Court dismissed the tenant's appeal but gave the tenant six months to vacate.

Lesson Learnt

Similar-sounding rent-control provisions from different states can have very different legal meanings: a Supreme Court ruling interpreting one state's rent law does not automatically carry over to another state's differently worded law, even on the same subject (here, NRI landlords' eviction rights).

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

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