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Samar Pal Singh v. Chitranjan Singh

Civil Appeal · Neutral citation not assigned (Civil Appeal No. 7988 of 2015)Decided 28 Sept 2015
Civil Appeal No. 7988 of 2015
Justice Dipak Misra · Justice Prafulla C. Pant

Background

The appellant-landlord owned a house in Meerut, part commercial and part residential, let out to the respondent-tenant's father since 1975. After the tenants allegedly stopped paying rent, the landlord filed an eviction suit, which the trial court decreed in his favour. The tenant successfully appealed to the Allahabad High Court, which found the tenant protected under Section 20(4) of the U.P. Rent Act (which shields a tenant from eviction for rent arrears if the full amount due is deposited before the first hearing) and set aside the eviction decree.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court held that the protection under Section 20(4) does not apply to a tenant who has built or acquired, in a vacant state, any other residential building in the same city, and found that the tenant here had in fact acquired two such properties that were suitable for residential use (not purely commercial, as the High Court had concluded). The Court ruled that a building usable for both residential and commercial purposes still falls within this disqualifying proviso. Since the High Court erred in treating the tenant's properties as exclusively commercial, the Supreme Court set aside the High Court's order, restored the original eviction decree, and directed the tenants to vacate within sixty days.

Lesson Learnt

A tenant who has acquired other properties capable of residential use elsewhere in the same city cannot claim the rent-arrears-deposit protection against eviction, even if those properties are also used for business: the protection is specifically meant for tenants who have no alternative residential option.

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

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