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Smart Summary

Structured Summary of the Opinion

Factual and Procedural Background

The matter concerned an application for police protection filed by the petitioner, who relied on a representation dated 31-08-2005 (Ext.15) addressed to the Commissioner of Police, Thiruvananthapuram. The petitioner claimed that the third respondent (the landlord) was attempting to forcibly evict him from tenanted shop premises where he conducted a readymade dress business under a rent deed (Ext. P1 dated 01-06-2001). The petitioner asserted he had the necessary municipal licence and that an eviction order had been issued in R.C.P.No.6 of 2004. He appealed that eviction in R.C.A. No.9 of 2005 and obtained an interim stay in I.A.No.384 of 2005 from the First Additional District Judge, Thiruvananthapuram.

This Court had earlier granted prima facie interim protection directing respondents 1 and 2 to ensure the petitioner’s possession and occupation were not interfered with. The third respondent appeared, filed a counter‑affidavit, and sought modification of the interim orders, alleging that the petitioner had obtained further orders (I.A.No.2193 of 2005) improperly and had misused interim relief to upset the landlord’s possession.

The third respondent produced documentary evidence and contended that the bank (Union Bank of India), acting under the Securitisation and Reconstruction of Financial Assets and Enforcement of Security Interest Act, 2002 (the "Securitisation Act"), had taken possession of the mortgaged property on 20-12-2004 due to the petitioner’s loan default. The bank had briefly handed possession to the petitioner on an undertaking, but repossessed the property on 07-05-2005. The third respondent claimed he had discharged amounts as guarantor and that the bank subsequently handed possession to him (evidenced by Ext.R3(h) dated 12-08-2005). The petitioner disputed this account and relied on Ext.P1 and other pending proceedings (including O.S.No.1005 of 2003) to assert continued tenancy and entitlement to relief.

Legal Issues Presented

  1. Whether police protection should be granted to the petitioner to prevent alleged forcible eviction from the tenanted premises.
  2. Whether the petitioner suppressed material facts when obtaining interim relief from this Court, thereby rendering the writ petition misconceived.
  3. What is the legal effect of the bank’s taking possession of the mortgaged property under the Securitisation Act (including the operation of Section 13(4) and Section 35) on the tenancy and the landlord’s proprietary rights.
  4. Whether, in the face of the Securitisation Act taking effect, the rights available under the Kerala Buildings (Lease and Rent Control) Act (and the Rent Control Appellate Authority’s interlocutory orders) continue to protect the petitioner’s possession.

Arguments of the Parties

Petitioner's Arguments

  • The petitioner relied on Ext.P1 (rent deed dated 01-06-2001) as governing the landlord-tenant relationship and asserted that he was authorised to run a shop with municipal licence.
  • He contended that R.C.P.No.6 of 2004 resulted in an eviction order, but he had filed R.C.A.No.9 of 2005 and obtained a stay (I.A.No.384 of 2005) which remained unvacated; thus he claimed continued protection against eviction.
  • The petitioner claimed it was unlikely a landlord would act as guarantor for a tenant and denied the third respondent’s account of mortgages, bank possession and payments made; he also pointed to other pending civil proceedings (O.S.No.1005 of 2003) as the appropriate forum to resolve disputes.
  • He argued that the landlord was bound by the Appellate Authority’s order (Ext.P4) and that eviction could only occur in the manner authorised by the Kerala Buildings (Lease and Rent Control) Act.

Third Respondent's Arguments

  • The third respondent alleged Ext.P1 was a sham and relied instead on Ext.R3(a) (agreement dated 01-10-2001) as recording the true arrangement.
  • He stated there was heavy default by the petitioner which led to rent control proceedings and an eviction decree (with appeal pending), and that the petitioner requested the landlord to stand as guarantor for a Rs.5 lakh bank loan.
  • The third respondent explained that security was created by mortgage and deposit of title deeds; the bank issued notices from July 2001 and ultimately took possession under the Securitisation Act on 20-12-2004 (Ext.R3(d)).
  • He maintained that the bank’s notices and public proclamations (14-05-2005) made clear the bank’s superior claim, that tenancy ceased from 20-12-2004, and that the petitioner’s attempts to regain possession afterwards were improper (including breaking locks and placing goods).
  • The third respondent asserted he had cleared loan dues (paying substantial sums as guarantor) and that the bank handed over possession to him (Ext.R3(h) dated 12-08-2005), entitling him to recover possession and police assistance when necessary.

Table of Precedents Cited

No precedents were cited in the provided opinion.

Court's Reasoning and Analysis

The Court examined the factual matrix and documentary evidence presented by the third respondent and concluded that the petitioner had not disclosed material facts when obtaining interim relief. The Court found the petitioner’s presentation suggested high‑handed action by the landlord, but fuller particulars showed the bank had intervened under the Securitisation Act and had taken possession of the mortgaged property on 20-12-2004 (supported by Ext.R3(d)).

The Court analysed the statutory mechanism under the Securitisation Act. It explained that Section 13(4) authorises the secured creditor to take measures specified in that section, including taking possession of secured assets and transferring, leasing or otherwise dealing with them without court intervention. The Court noted that subsection (6) vests in any transferee all rights in relation to the transferred secured asset. Further, by reference to Section 35 of the Securitisation Act, the Court held the central enactment has overriding effect “notwithstanding anything inconsistent” in other laws, thereby limiting the practical efficacy of rights available under state rent control legislation where inconsistent with the Securitisation Act.

Applying these principles, the Court found that from 20-12-2004 there was effectively no tenancy because the bank’s possession under the Securitisation Act superseded the tenancy rights. The Court rejected the petitioner’s claim to continued possession and held that the petitioner was not entitled to police protection to preserve what the Court characterised as "imaginary rights".

Although the Court concluded the writ petition was misconceived and should normally be dismissed (vacating interim orders), it took account of subsequent orders obtained by the petitioner in I.A.No.2193 of 2005 from the Rent Control Appellate Authority, which had been passed on the strength of the interim relief earlier granted by this Court. To avoid multiplicity of proceedings and to ensure the landlord would not be deprived of an effective remedy, the Court directed procedural follow-up: upon receipt of a certified copy of this judgment the landlord may approach the Rent Control Appellate Authority for appropriate orders; the Authority was directed to decide such application within one week from presentation, taking into account the Court’s observations that the writ petition was misconceived and irregular.

Finally, the Court exercised its powers to prevent misuse of judicial process and to avoid forcing the third respondent to initiate fresh proceedings. Consequently, the Court directed the first respondent (police) to ensure that, if necessary, police protection be granted to the third respondent to regain possession, but only after orders are passed by the Appellate Authority pursuant to this judgment. The third respondent was awarded costs of Rs.1,000.

Holding and Implications

Holding: Writ petition dismissed.

Implications and direct effects of the decision:

  • The Court concluded the petitioner was not entitled to police protection to preserve alleged tenancy rights because the bank had lawfully taken possession under the Securitisation Act and the tenancy had ceased from 20-12-2004.
  • The Court held that the Securitisation Act (including Section 13(4) and Section 35) operates notwithstanding inconsistent provisions in other laws and can displace rights that would otherwise be available under the Kerala Buildings (Lease and Rent Control) Act where inconsistent.
  • Although the writ petition was dismissed (which would normally vacate interlocutory protection), the Court directed that the landlord be permitted to apply to the Rent Control Appellate Authority on receipt of a certified copy of this judgment and that the Authority must decide any such application within one week, taking the Court's observations into account.
  • The Court directed that the police (first respondent) ensure police protection to enable the third respondent to regain possession after the Appellate Authority issues orders based on this judgment.
  • The third respondent was awarded costs of Rs.1,000. No new binding precedent was declared by the Court beyond its application of statutory provisions of the Securitisation Act to the facts of this case.

This summary is confined strictly to information and reasoning contained in the provided opinion. No external facts or precedents have been added.

    S. Shameem v. The City Police Commissioner Others

    This is an application for police protection. The petitioner had invited our attention to Ext.15 representation submitted by him dated 31-08-2005. Although it was addressed to the Commissioner of Police, Thiruvananthapuram, he submitted that the third respondent was attempting to take law in his hands so as to evict him from the tenanted premises unlawfully, where he was conducting business, and it was imperative that the police is directed to render sufficient help so as to protect him.

    2. According to the petitioner, Ext. P1 rent deed dated 01-06-2001 in respect of a shop room governed the relationship between himself and the third respondent, who was the landlord. He had been authorised to conduct a readymade dress shop and due licence had been granted by the corporation for the business. Later on arrears of rent fell due and R.C.P.No.6 of 2004 had come to be filed, which resulted in an order for eviction. Against the said order, R.C.A.NO.9 of 2005 had been filed by him and the First Additional district Judge, Thiruvananthapuram in I.A.No.384 of 2005 in R.C.A.No.9 of 2005 had stayed the order of eviction. It was not attempted to be vacated and the submission was that by use of force notwithstanding the above order Ext.P4), forcible eviction was being attempted.

    3. Prima facie it had been found that the petitioner was entitled to an interim order. This Court had directed respondents 1 and 2 to give adequate protection to ensure that is possession and occupation of the building is not interfered with at the instance of the third respondent or any strangers.

    4. The third respondent had entered appearance and had filed a counter affidavit and further requested that the interim orders were to be appropriately modified. Senior Counsel Sri S.V.S. Iyer, appearing for the third respondent, especially highlighted the circumstance that making use of the interim orders passed, in a most dishonest manner the petitioner had secured further orders from the Rent Control Appellate Authority in I.A.No.2193 of 2005, even by impleading the Circle Inspector of police, Thiruvananthapuram as an additional respondent to the proceedings and had upset the continued possession of the landlord. He further submitted that the writ petition was not maintainable. This Court has been taken astray, as the full and relevant facts have not been brought to its attention when the matter came up for admission and the landlord has been inflicted with civil injury. He submits that the petitioner had duty to present full facts and then only could have made a request for exercising the discretionary jurisdiction, in proceedings under Article 226 of the Constitution of India. It is submitted that civil suits and other proceedings are pending before the appropriate authorities and the short cut method employed by the petitioner was illegal.

    5. We feel that the fuller details supplied to us do indicate that the petitioner is guilty of indiscretion. He had presented the facts as if high-handed action had been resorted to by the landlord. Of course, the landlord was bound by interlocutory orders passed by the Rent Control Appellate authority, which prohibited him from exercising his right of eviction. But the tenant appears to have been divested of possession as a consequence of certain independent collateral proceedings only, unconnected with proceedings under the Rent Control Act.

    6. Documentary evidence had been supplied by the third respondent and the affidavit gives further details. It is submitted that Ext. P1 is a sham document and it did not govern the rental arrangements between the parties. Reliance was placed on Ext.R3(a) dated 01-10-2001, which was an agreement on which parties had put on record their respective rights and liabilities and this was to be in operation for a period of six months from 01-10-2001. He admits that the arrangement had been continuing thereafter, but here was heavy default which necessitated filing of a rent control petition and it had ended in a decree of eviction, although an appeal therefrom is pending. It is stated that although the rental arrangements had started from May 2001 onwards, there was no payment of Rs.5 lakhs as advance, and during the subsistence of the rental arrangement the petitioner in the writ petition had requested the third respondent to stand as guarantor for a loan from Union Bank of India. It was for Rs.5 lakhs and the Bank required the landlord to create a mortgage in respect of the shop room. Security was consequently created by mortgage and deposit of title deed of the tenanted premises. This was to oblige the tenant. There was huge default in repayment of the loan amount and the Bank had initiated action for recovery under the Securitisation and Reconstruction of Financial Assets and Enforcement of Security Interest Act, 2002 (for short Securitisation Act). Notices had been issued by the Bank from July, 2001 onwards and as a guarantor the third respondent could not have evaded from responsibility. It so happened that the Bank had exercised their right under the Securitisation Act and they had taken possession of the mortgaged property on 20-12-2004. Ext.R3(d) is produced in support thereof.

    7. By Ext. R3(d), the tenant was required to pay up the entire dues, and as a measure in their discretion, at his request, possession of the property was given to him by the Bank, recording his undertaking to hold the property under trust on behalf of the Bank to enable him to remit the dues to the bank latest by 5th of January, 2005. Such payments had not been there. As reserved by Ext. R3(d), possession was taken back by them on 07-05-2005. From 20-12-2004 there was no tenancy in operation because of the impact of Securitisation Act.

    8. Counsel for the third respondent further invited out attention to the notices issued by the Union Bank of India proclaiming their possession as envisaged by the Securitisation Act in news papers, by notices dated 14-05-2005. It had been notified that the borrower as well as the guarantor had failed to pay back the dues and the properties had been taken possession on 07-05-2005. General public were informed that no transactions in respect of the properties would have bound the superior claims of the Bank.

    9. The petitioner could not have been considered as in possession or ownership of the properties thereafter. The shop room was a valuable asset and the predicament of the third respondent was that because of the default committed by the petitioner, property would have been irrevocably lost to him. The third respondent, according to him, had cleared the outstanding dues by remitting Rs.6,72,000/- towards the loan amount, as guarantor. The affidavit as also Ext. R3(g) indicate that a further sum of Rs.6,03,000/- had been paid by the third respondent towards an other loan account simultaneously, as the Bank was utilizing the opportunity to clear the dues not only of the petitioner, but also his relative, in whose favour also the third respondent was considered as guarantor. He had no other go than to shell out the money. He submits that the Bank had handed over possession of the property to him, and such possession is evidenced by Certificate dated 12-08-2005, copy of which is marked as Ext.R3(h).

    10. According to the third respondent, the shop was empty as early as from January, 2005 onwards. There were efforts taken by the petitioner to interfere with his possession by breaking open the locks and attempting to place goods in the shop room so as to make it appear that he retained control over the properties. On complaints being made, police had given the third respondent sufficient help. It was after these adventures that the petitioner had dishonestly moved this court and obtained orders. It had been further misutilised by misrepresenting the Rent Control Appellate Authority.

    11. The version of the third respondent, as above, of course is controverted by the petitioner. He submits that it was highly improbable that a landlord might have come to stand as guarantor for a tenant. It is also stated that the third respondent has not helped the relatives of the petitioner for securing loans, for any purposes, and the claims as above are bereft of truth. He relied on Ext.P1 as an authentic document and also referred to pendency of another suit between them as O.S.NO.1005 of 2003 and points out that the disputed questions could be more profitably adjudicated there. It is submitted that there was no suppression, as alleged, and in any case the third respondent was bound by Ext.P4 order of the Appellate Authority and he could not have any superior claims for possession, as their relations were governed by the Kerala Buildings (Lease and Rent Control) Act. A short cut for eviction was impermissible and any eviction could have been brought about only on the grounds authorised by the statute. These were the submissions in short.

    12. However, it is difficult for us to accept the explanations of the petitioner to show that there was no suppression of relevant facts. In retrospect it can safely be assumed that if this Court had been supplied with details, as have now come forth, the petitioner hardly would have obtained an interlocutor order, practically restoring him to possession, which he had not at the relevant time. Necessarily the steps have to be retraced. Because of the impact of the Securitisation Act, the tenant had lost the tenancy right, and the Bank had come to full possession, which had even been recognised by the tenant, in the course of the said proceedings.

    13. Under Section 13(4) of the Securitisation Act, in case the borrower fails to discharge his liability, the secured creditor is authorised to take recourse to the measures stipulated by the section. This is in recognition of the provisions of the Act that any security interest created in favour of the secured creditor may be enforced without the intervention of the Court or Tribunal. Thus, a creditor is entitled to take possession of the secured assets of the borrower including the right to transfer by way of lease, assignment or sale for realizing the secured asset. The right also includes taking over management of the secured assets by right to transfer by way of lease, assignment or sale. The appointment of a person to manage the secured assets, the possession of which has been taken over by the secured creditor is also contemplated. Sub-section (6) also lays down that any transfer of secured asset after taking possession thereof shall vest in the transferee all rights in, or in relation to, the secured asset transferred as if the transfer had been made by the owner of such secured asset.

    14. The only circumstance that the guarantor (third respondent herein) was the owner of the secured asset need not saddle him with any disability. In any case, the Act does not provide for any such restriction. By the operation of the section, the transfer brings with it all the proprietary rights that are usually available in respect of the holding. Although it is contended by Sri. Jayakumar that so far as a tenanted premises, to which provisions of the Kerala Buildings (Lease and Rent Control Act applies, the tenancy could have been terminable only in the manner authorised by the said law, we do not think the above argument can have any relevance in view of section 35 of the Securitisation Act. The provisions of the Securitisation Act shall have effect notwithstanding any thing in consistent therewith contained in any other law for the time being in force. In respect of transactions governed by the said Act, the overriding provisions effectively nullify the rights normally admissible even to a tenant, as available under the Rent Control Act, as it can be only subservient to a later Central enactment.

    15. The Rules under the Securitisation Act extensively deal with the procedure to be adopted in respect of sale of immovable assets. Although in the present case, after publication of notice, there was a settlement of debts and further proceedings for sale were not required to be followed, it cannot be disputed that the Bank in law came to possession of the property and such rights, including possession, had been handed over to the landlord on payment of defaulted amounts. The contention of the petitioner is that he was in possession all through out. But it is not found as one submission, which could be countenanced. Naturally, he is not therefore entitled to police protection for preservation of any imaginary rights. Although we can foresee possibility of misuse of such provisions in the Securitization Act, in the distant horizon, at least in this case, we have nothing worthwhile to assume that the landlord was employing any circuitous methodology.

    16. Normally, after vacating the interim orders, the writ petition was to be dismissed. But, as pointed out by the senior counsel, further orders had come to be passed by the Rent Control Appellate Authority, on the strength of the interim orders passed by this Court, in I.A.NO.2193 of 2005 on 06-09-2004. It essentially has to be noticed. We feel that follow up directions are required to be made. On receipt of a certified copy of this judgment, the landlord will be entitled to move the said Authority praying for appropriate orders, that may be necessary, and orders are to be passed by the Appellate authority on the application so filed within one week from, the date of presentation of the application, duly taking notice of the observations made by us, and especially that the writ petition itself was misconceived and irregular.

    17. On the facts of the case, we feel that we have to stretch our jurisdiction at least to some extent, so as to ensure that process of the Court are not misused. We do not think that the third respondent is to be again subjected to the disability of challenging orders in I.A.No.2193 of 2005 by fresh proceedings, and the direction, as above, is intended to short circuit the formalities. We direct the first respondent to ensure that, if necessary, police protection is granted to the third respondent to regain his possession, after orders are passed by the Appellate Authority in consequence to this judgment. The third respondent will be entitled to Rs.1000/- (Rupees one thousand only) as costs.

    The writ petition is dismissed.

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    Comments

    S. Shameem v. The City Police Commissioner Others
    (Sep 23, 2005)