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Pradip Kumar Saha & Ors. v. Indian Hotel & Anr.

Calcutta High Court
Aug 21, 2000
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Structured Summary of the Opinion

Factual and Procedural Background

This appeal was directed against an order dated 27 July 1998 by a learned single Judge dismissing an application by the plaintiffs/appellants for originating summons in Suit No. C.S. 151 of 1997 on the ground that the suit was not maintainable as an originating summons under Chapter XIII of the Original Side Rules of the High Court. The learned single Judge gave liberty to the plaintiffs/appellants to apply before the appropriate forum, including by filing a civil suit in an appropriate court.

Facts as pleaded by the plaintiffs/appellants: the plaintiffs purchased the property in question by several conveyances dated 18 November 1988 from the erstwhile owner Smt. Lilabati Dutta (who had inherited the property in 1937 and remained sole owner until sale). An earlier indenture of lease dated 26 April 1919 had granted an 81-year lease to Chimanlal Ganeriwalla and Jiban Krishna Mitra, operating until 25 April 2000. Chimanlal assigned his interest to Jiban Krishna Mitra in 1936, and upon Jiban Krishna Mitra's death in or about 1985, the leasehold interest devolved on Gopal Krishna Mitra and Sachindra Narayan Dutta, who allegedly surrendered their leasehold rights by a deed of surrender dated 1 January 1988 in favour of the plaintiffs.

The plaintiffs alleged that a portion of the ground floor had been let by the leaseholders to predecessors-in-interest of the defendants, and that the defendants occupy that portion as under-lessees/sub-tenants. Plaintiffs sought possession on the basis of purchase and the alleged surrender, and applied for originating summons asking the Court to determine several specific questions (reproduced below in Legal Issues Presented). The plaintiffs had, on 8 January 1990, asked the defendants to attorn and to pay rent to the plaintiffs.

The learned single Judge also dismissed the suit because an earlier originating summons filed by the appellants on the same subject matter and cause of action had been dismissed by the Trial Court for default of appearance, and the application for restoration had also been dismissed. This appeal challenges that order.

Legal Issues Presented

  1. Whether, by reason of the alleged surrender of the lease dated 1 January 1988 by the lessees, the defendants as under-lessees/sub-tenants can lawfully occupy the said property until expiry of the original lease on 25 April 2000.
  2. Whether the defendants as under-lessees/sub-tenants are obliged to give vacant and peaceful possession to the plaintiffs of their respective portions of the said property in view of the alleged surrender of the lease dated 1 January 1988.
  3. Whether the plaintiffs are entitled to receive rent from the defendants in accordance with the lessee, and if so, whether such acceptance of rent would be treated as a fresh tenancy agreement attracting the provisions of the West Bengal Premises Tenancy Act, 1956.
  4. Whether the defendants as under-lessees/sub-tenants are obliged to vacate and deliver peaceful vacant possession to the plaintiffs of their respective portions on expiry of the period of the original lease dated 26 April 1919 (i.e., on 25 April 2000).
  5. Whether the plaintiffs' claim for eviction or related reliefs is maintainable by way of an Originating Summons under Chapter XIII (notably Rules 1, 4 and 9) of the Original Side Rules of the High Court, or whether such disputes must be pursued by an ordinary civil suit (and whether the earlier suit dismissal affects the maintainability).

Arguments of the Parties

Appellants' Arguments

  • The plaintiffs/appellants relied on the deed of surrender dated 1 January 1988 and asserted they were entitled to possession because the lessees had surrendered their leasehold rights prior to the plaintiffs' purchase.
  • The appellants' counsel heavily relied on Rules 4 and 9 of Chapter XIII of the Original Side Rules to contend that the originating summons was maintainable—either under Rule 4 as purchasers of immovable property seeking determination of questions arising out of the sale, or under Rule 9 in relation to questions arising under a written instrument (as an alternative ground).
  • The plaintiffs had also written (on 8 January 1990) seeking attornment and rent from the defendants on the basis of the plaintiffs' conveyances dated 27 October 1988.

Respondents' / Other Parties' Arguments

The opinion does not contain a detailed account of the defendants' or respondents' legal arguments in the record of the judgment summarized here.

Table of Precedents Cited

No judicial precedents (case law) were cited in the provided opinion; the Court relied on provisions of the Original Side Rules and Section 9 of the Code of Civil Procedure.

No precedents were cited in the provided opinion.

Court's Reasoning and Analysis

The Court undertook a textual and purposive reading of Chapter XIII of the Original Side Rules, particularly Rules 1, 4, 9, 10 and 18. The court's analysis proceeded along these lines:

  1. The Court described the scope of Rule 1: it allows executors, administrators, trustees and certain other categories of persons to take out Originating Summons "as a matter of course" for reliefs of the types enumerated in clauses (a)–(g) of Rule 1 (matters relating to estates, trusts, etc.).
  2. Rule 4 was identified as a special category allowing a vendor or purchaser of immovable property to take out an Originating Summons "for the determination of any question which may arise in respect of any request or objections or any claim for compensation, or any question arising out of or connected with the aforesaid contract." Rule 9 allows a person interested under a will or written instrument to apply by Originating Summons for questions of construction arising under the instrument.
  3. The appellants' reliance on Rules 4 and 9 was considered and rejected. The court explained that a landlord-tenant dispute (a claim for eviction or possession where the occupier asserts leasehold or other legal rights) is not the kind of matter contemplated to be resolved by Originating Summons under Rules 1, 4 or 9. The Court emphasized that the plaintiffs on their own pleading admitted that the defendants occupy under some alleged leasehold right; that fact makes it inappropriate to treat the defendants as trespassers whose removal can be summarily determined by Originating Summons.
  4. The Court characterized the proceedings under Chapter XIII (Originating Summons) as peculiar and distinct from ordinary civil suits: they are meant for relatively narrow questions—administration of estates, trusts, vendor/purchaser disputes relating to specific contractual questions, foreclosure/redemption matters, construction of instruments, and related issues—and not for adjudication of contested facts and complex defenses typical in landlord-tenant litigation.
  5. The Court held that when a defendant raises defenses (for example, protection under law, or that leasehold rights subsist), such contested factual and legal issues are not suitable for disposal by Originating Summons. For eviction-type disputes the appropriate remedy is an ordinary civil suit under Section 9 of the Code of Civil Procedure.
  6. Independently, the Court noted the procedural bar: the learned single Judge had held (and this Court agreed) that an earlier Originating Summons dealing with the same subject matter/cause of action had been dismissed by the Trial Court for default and the application for restoration had been dismissed; that prior dismissal rendered the new originating summons not maintainable.
  7. The Court also relied on the discretionary power contained in Rules 10 and 18 of Chapter XIII, which permit the Court, where it thinks fit, to refuse to pass any order on an originating summons and to refer the parties to an ordinary suit. A combined reading of Rules 10 and 18 supported the conclusion that eviction disputes should proceed by ordinary suit rather than by Originating Summons.

The Court expressly refrained from deciding substantive issues of eviction on merits (for example, whether leasehold rights presently subsist), stating that those are matters for ordinary civil proceedings and declined to express any opinion on the substantive entitlement to eviction.

Holding and Implications

APPEAL DISMISSED

Holding: The Division Bench dismissed the appeal and agreed with the learned single Judge that the suit for Originating Summons was not maintainable on two independent grounds: (a) an earlier originating summons addressing the same cause of action and property had been dismissed for default and restoration had been refused; and (b) as a matter of law and practice, the dispute concerning alleged leasehold rights and proposed eviction was not appropriate for disposal by Originating Summons under Chapter XIII (Rules 1, 4, 9) and should be pursued by an ordinary civil suit under Section 9 of the Code of Civil Procedure.

Direct consequences and directions set out in the opinion:

  • The plaintiffs/appellants were given liberty to pursue alternative remedies, including filing a regular civil suit in an appropriate forum, as also recorded by the learned single Judge.
  • No order as to costs was made by the Court.
  • The Court directed that a xerox copy of the judgment, counter-signed by the Assistant Registrar, be provided to the parties on their undertaking to apply for and obtain a certified copy upon the usual undertaking.

The opinion contains no indication that a novel legal principle was established; the decision applies the Court's view on the proper scope of Originating Summons under Chapter XIII to the facts of this case and directs the parties to ordinary civil process for contested eviction matters.

Show all summary ...

V.K Gupta, J.—This Appeal is directed against an order dated 27th July, 1998 passed by a learned single Judge of this Court whereby an application made by the plaintiffs/appellants for originating Summons in Suit No. C.S 151 of 1997 was dismissed by the learned single Judge in holding that the Suit was not maintainable as far as originating summons under Chapter XIII of the Original Side Rules of this Court was concerned but by giving liberty to the plaintiffs/Appellants to apply before the appropriate Forum for appropriate order, if as advised, including the filing of the Civil Suit in an appropriate Civil Court. The brief facts leading to the filing of this Appeal are that the plaintiffs/appellants purchased the property in question by several conveyances, all dated 18th November, 1988 from the erstwhile owner, namely Smt. Lila Bati Dutta in 1937 had inherited this property and since then, until its sale to the appellant/plaintiffs had remained its sole and absolute owner. Earlier, on a point of time, by an Indenture of lease dated 26th April 1919 the Predecessors-in-interest of Smt. Lila Bati Dutta had granted a lease in favour of one Chimanlal Ganeriwalla and one Jiban Krishna Mitra for a period of 81 years. This lease was to operate till 25th April 2000. Chimanlal Ganeriwalla in 1936 however had assigned his interests in the aforesaid lease in favour of Jiban Krishna Mitra with the result that Jiban Krishna Mitra became the sale lessee of the property under the aforesaid lease executed on 26th April, 1919. In or about 1985 Jiban Krishna Mitra died and the leasehold Interest in the property in question devolved upon Gopal Krishna Mitra and Sachindra Narayan Dutta. It is the case of the appellants-plaintiffs that these two lessees by a deed of surrender executed on 1st January, 1988 surrendered their leasehold rights in favour of the plaintiff-appellants.

2. It is interestingly also the case of the appellants themselves that during the tenure of the aforesid lease the lessees in accordance with the power conferred upon them under the terms of the lease had let out a portion of the ground floor of the property in question to the prodecessors-in-interest of the defendants and it is by virtue of the aforesaid letting out that the defendants are presently in occupaton of the said portion of the ground floor of the property.

3. The plaintiffs/appellants claim that because they had purchased the property from the erstwhile owners in the year 1988 (18th November 1988) and because the lessees had surrendered the leasehold rights in respect of the property vide the aforesaid dated 1st January, 1988, the plaintiffs are entitled to recover the possession of the property from the defendant and that the defendants are liable to hand over such possession of the property to the plaintiffs. Plaintiffs accordingly filed the Suit for originating Summons with the prayer that the learned trial Court may determines the questions formulated by the plaintiff/appellants in para-13 of the application. Those questions are reproduced as hereunder:

“(a) Whether by reason of surrender of the lease dated 1st January, 1988 by the lessees, the defendants as under lessee/sub-tenant can lawfully occupy the said property until expiry of the original lease i.e, on 25th April, 2000.

(b) Whether the defendants as under lessees/subtenants are obliged to give vacant and peaceful possession to the plaintiffs of their respective portions of the said property in view of the surrender of the lease dated 1st January, 1988.

(c) Is the plaintiff entitled to receive rent from the defendants in accordance with the lessee? If so, would such acceptance of rent be treated as fresh tenancy agreement with the defendants attaching the provisions of the West Bengal Premises Tenancy Act, 1956?

(d) Whether the defendants as under-lease/sub-tenant are obliged to vacate and delivery peaceful vacant possession to the plaintiffs of their respective portions on expiry of the period of the original lease dated 26th April, 1919 i.e, on 25th April, 2000?.”

4. Undoubtedly the plaintiffs/Appellants seek reliance on the deed of surrender allegedly executed on 1st January, 1988. They do not also dispute that on 8-01-1990 they had asked for and called upon the defendants to atorn their tenancy in favour of the plaintiffs/appellants and to pay them rent in respect of the said tenancy. This request for atornment was made in this letter on the basis of the information provided that by the aforesaid four conveyances dated 27.10.1988 the plaintiffs/appellants had purchased the property in question from Smt. Lilabati Dutta for valuable consideration.

5. Learned single Judge dismissed the Suit on the ground that an earlier Suit for Orglnating Summons had been filed by the Appellants with regard to the same subject matter and based on the same cause of action and since that Suit had been dismissed by the Trial Court for default of appearance and the application for restoration had also been dismissed, the new Suit on the same cause of action with respect to the same subject matter was not maintainable.

6. We have given our thoughtful consideration to the submissions made before us by the learned Advocate appearing for the Appellants. We have also carefully gone through Rules 1, 4, 9, 10 and 18 in Chapter-XIII of the Original Side Rules of this Court. Rules-1 clearly stipulates that the Executors or Administrators of a deceased person or anyone of them, and the Trustees under any instrument or any of them and any person claiming to be interested in the relief sought as creditor, legatee, hair or legal representatives etc. or any beneficiary under any trust or instrument etc., may take out, as a matter of course, Originating Summons for reliefs of such nature or kind as are mentioned therein or as may by the Summons be specified. Clauses (a) to (g) of Rule-1 specify such classes and circumstances under which Originating Summons may be taken out. Rule-4 provides that a Vendor or purchaser of immovable property or his representative may at any time, but not as a matter of course also take out Originating Summons for the determination of any question which may arise in respect of any request or objections or any claim for compensation, or any question arising out of or connected with the aforesaid contract. Rule-9 provides that any person claiming to be interested under a Will or written instrument may apply in chambers by Originating Summons for the determination of any question of construction arising under the instrument or for declaration of the rights of the person interested. The learned Advocate for the appellant/plaintiffs heavily relied upon Rules 4 and 9 alternatively to stress that their Suit for Originating Summons was based on either the Sale Deed executed in 1988 in terms of Rule 4 (supra) or the will earlier executed in terms of Rule 9 (supra) was maintainable. We do not agree with the contention and for a very simple reason.

7. Whereas Rule-1 in details provides for various types of originating Summons for being taken out either by the executors or administrators of a deceased person, or any of them or by the Trustees under any instrument or any of them and by various other categories of persons mentioned therin, as a matter of course. Rule-4 is a special category and not as a matter of course provides that the summon may also be obtained by the vendor or purchaser of any immovable property but for the determination of any question which may arise in respect of such property alone. Similarly Rule-9 talks of a person obtaining Originating Summons with respect to a will or other such-like instrument for determination of any question of construction arising under the aforesaid instrument, namely either the will or such like instrument. A simple Suit for adjudication of a landlord-tenant dispute with respect to an Immovable property, whereby the landlord claims that the tenant or the person in occupation is required to vacate the property, in our opinion, is not at all covered by either Rule 1, or Rule 4 or for that matter Rule 9 of Chapter-XIII of the Rules. On the own showing of the plaintiff/Appellants the defendants came to occupy the property on the basis of some alleged leasehold rights granted to them, whether those presently subsist or not being a different question. Because of some dispute regarding this question the defendants cannot be held to be trespassers or illegitimate/illegal occupiers of the property in question. Whether under the normal Civil Law they are liable to be evicted or not is an entirely different question altogether. We are not expressing any opinion or making any comments upon that aspect of the matter. All that we are saying is that with respect to such a dispute relating to such a proposed eviction of the defendants, it is not open to the plaintiff/appellants to apply for Originating Summons either under Rule-1, or under Rules 4 or 9, Chapter-XIII of the Original Side Rules of this Court.

8. The purpose of applying for and issuance of Originating Summons, as would be eivident from the Scheme of Chapter XIII of the Original Side Rules is clearly related to the determination of questions arising in the administration of an Estate or a Trust or for settling questions between the Vendors and the purchasers of a property, or for foreclosure or redemption of mortgages or for that matter determining other questions with regard to the construction of an instrument and for related purposes. Even though the proceedings relating to grant of Originating Summons are classified as Suits, such Suits are of a very peculiar nature. These Suits cannot be equated with ordinary Civil Suits requiring adjudication of disputed questions of fact and law. Where a party asserts that a person is liable to be eivcted from a property under his occupation because the leasehold rights have been extinguished or because the lease period is over, or, because of some event the occupier has lost the right to occupy, and if in such a Suit the defendant-occupier refutes such assertions and sets up a defence that he cannot be evicted on one ground or the other, because of some protection available to him under some law or the other, surely such a matter cannot be disposed of by the issuance of Originating Summons under Chapter XIII of the Original Side Rules of this Court. Such a plaintiff has to take recourse to the remedy of filing of an ordinary Civil Suit under section 9 of the Code of Civil Procedure. The scope of Chapter XIII, Rules 1, 4 or 9 is entirely distinguishable and cannot be hold applicable to such type of litigation between two adversarial parties.

9. Notwithstanding whether Rules 1, 4 or 9 are applicable or not, in a given situation, the Court still has the power and the discretion to refuse to entertain a Suit for issuance of Originating Summons. It is evident from a clear and plain reading of Rules 10 and 18 of Chapter XIII. These two Rules also provide that where the Court thinks fit it may refuse to pass any order on the Summons and refer the parties to a Suit in the ordinary course. A combined reading of Rules 10 and 18 therefore leaves us in no manner of doubt that in a situation or a case where a plaintiff simplicitor is asking for eviction of a defendant from the suit property, the plaintiff should take recourse to the ordinary remedy of filing a regular Civil Suit so that the defendant/tenant/occupier avails of the usual defences available to him under law.

10. Apart from the fact the learned single Judge had dismissed the Suit on the ground of the earlier Suit having been dismissed on the same cause of action with respect to the same property and that application for restoration having also been dismissed (we find ourselves in agreement with that finding of the learned single Judge as well) the Suit for originating summons was also not maintainable for the grounds indicated hereinabove. The Appeal, therefore, in our view has no merit, the same accordingly is dismissed, but in the light of the observations made by us hereinabove the plaintiffs/appellants have full liberty to take recourse to alternative remedies, as observed by the learned single Judge in the Judgment under Appeal. No order as to costs.

Later:

Let a xerox copy of this Judgment, duly counter-signed by the Assistant Registrar of this Court, be given to the parties upon their undertaking to apply for and obtain certified copy of the same upon usual undertaking.

A. Barua, J.—I agree.

Appeal dismissed