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Raj Kishore Makani v. Vidya Sagar (Dead) Through LRs & Ors.

Civil Appeal · Neutral citation not assigned (Civil Appeal No. 5839 of 2005)Decided 15 Feb 2017
Civil Appeal No. 5839 of 2005
Justice Kurian Joseph · Justice A.M. Khanwilkar

Background

A tenant challenged an order of the Punjab and Haryana High Court which had upheld concurrent findings of the Rent Controller and the Appellate Authority that the landlords (respondents) genuinely needed the premises for their own bona fide use and were the rightful owners. The tenant argued the lower forums' findings were perverse and that the landlords' title to the property was doubtful.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court found no basis to disturb the concurrent findings of three separate forums (Rent Controller, Appellate Authority, and High Court) that the landlords' requirement of the premises was bona fide and that their ownership title was established, and so saw no perversity in the decisions below. The appeal was dismissed, but the Court granted the tenant time until 31 December 2017 to hand over vacant and peaceful possession, subject to filing an undertaking within two weeks, and directed the tenant to pay Rs. 500 per month as use-and-occupation charges from March 2017 until handover.

Lesson Learnt

Where the facts of a case (such as a landlord's genuine need for a property or ownership title) have been consistently found the same way by multiple courts one after another, the Supreme Court will rarely re-open those findings on a further appeal, but it can still soften the practical impact by giving the losing party reasonable time to comply.

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

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