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P.S. Ayub v. Asif Jagirdar

Civil Appeal · 2018 INSC 911Decided 28 Sept 2018
Civil Appeal No. 10076 of 2018
Justice R. Banumathi · Justice Indira Banerjee

Background

A landlord had filed a civil suit for eviction of his tenant over non-payment of rent and termination of tenancy. The tenant did not appear, and the suit was decreed against him ex-parte; his later application to set aside that ex-parte decree was also dismissed for lack of sufficient reason. The High Court subsequently directed the tenant to deposit arrears of rent within two weeks as a condition for reviving his challenge, but when he deposited the amount late, the High Court refused to condone the delay and dismissed his applications, which he then challenged in the Supreme Court.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court set aside the High Court's order and allowed the appeal, but on fresh conditions rather than unconditional relief. It directed the tenant to deposit an updated amount of future rent arrears (Rs. 2,77,000, after adjusting the earlier deposit) within eight weeks, on which the original eviction suit would stand restored and proceed to trial; it also allowed the landlord to withdraw the amount already deposited and required the tenant to keep paying ongoing rent. The Court made clear that if the tenant failed to deposit the arrears in time, the original ex-parte eviction decree would automatically revive.

Lesson Learnt

Courts will sometimes give a defaulting party one more conditional chance to have their case heard on merits, but that chance comes with strict, self-executing conditions, missing a court-ordered deposit deadline can mean an adverse decree (like an eviction order) springs back into force without any further hearing.

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

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