IN THE HIGH COURT OF KERALA AT ERNAKULAM
RCRev..No. 300 of 2008()
1. ANNA MAGGIE, W/O JELSON, AGED 43 YEARS,
... Petitioner
Vs
1. SRI.A.S.MANI, S/O.SRI.SKARIA,XXXVI/2070,
... Respondent
For Petitioner :SRI.C.J.JOY
For Respondent :SRI.P.J.JOSEPH PANIKKASSERY
The Hon'ble MR. Justice PIUS C.KURIAKOSE
The Hon'ble MR. Justice C.K.ABDUL REHIM
Dated :08/04/2009
O R D E R
PIUS.C.KURIAKOSE & C.K.ABDUL REHIM, JJ.
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R.C.R.No.300 OF 2008
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Dated this the 8th day of April, 2009
ORDER
Pius C.Kuriakose, J.
The tenant is in revision against the order of the Rent
Control Court and the Appellate Authority, repelling the
contention of the tenant that the rent control petition is not
maintainable in law for the reason that the landlord has not
clearly conceded the petitioner’s status in the building as his
tenant.
2. We have heard submissions of Sri.C.J.Joy, learned
counsel for the revision petitioner and also those of Sri.
P.J.Joseph Panikkassery, learned counsel for the respondent
landlord. We were taken through by Sri.C.J.Joy to the rent
control petition, particularly its paragraph 3. Sri.Joy certainly is
correct when he submits that in paragraph 3 the case of the
landlord is that the petitioner is not a tenant, but is only an
unauthorised occupant. The Rent Control Court and the
Appellate Authority however were not prepared to hold that the
rent control petition is not maintainable on the reason that the
R.C.R..No.300/2008 2
respondent in the rent control petition, the revision petitioner,
had conceded his status in the building to be that of a tenant
under the respondent herein; the petitioner in the rent control
petition. It appears to us that the learned authorities below
relied on certain observations in paragraph 18 of the judgment
of the Full Bench in Parthakumar v. Ajith Viswanathan (2006
(2) KLT 250 (FB), wherein it is observed that once the
respondent in the rent control petition concedes that there is
landlord – tenant relationship between the parties, the petition
will be maintained before the Rent Control Court. In this
jurisdiction under Section 20, our enquiry is whether the finding
concurrently entered by the Rent Control Court and the Appellate
Authority that the Rent Control Petition is maintainable in view of
the landlord- tenant relationship between the tenant and the
landlord, is vitiated by any illegality, irregularity or impropriety.
3. According to us, the finding of the Rent Control Court
and the Appellate Authority can be sustained also on the reasons
other than those mentioned in the orders of the Rent Control
Court and the Appellate Authority. Section 27 of the Rent
Control Act states that it is obligatory that particulars regarding
R.C.R..No.300/2008 3
the building, as prescribed in Rule 12 of the Kerala Buildings
(Lease and Rent Control) Rules are furnished along with the Rent
Control Petition. We find that along with the rent control petition
filed by the respondent, the respondent/landlord had furnished
the prescribed particulars. In clause 3 of the particulars, the
revision petitioner is described as the person in occupation of the
premises and in clause 7 it is stated that the premises is occupied
by a single tenant. According to us, the assertion of the landlord
in clauses 3 and 7 that the premises is under the exclusive
occupation of the revision petitioner as a tenant, is sufficient to
hold that the landlord has admitted the status of the revision
petitioner to be that of his tenant in the petition schedule
building. Moreover, according to us, the very fact that the
petition for eviction has been filed against the respondent alone
invoking the provisions of Section 11 of the Act of 1965 itself is
a circumstance which demonstrates that the petitioner in the
rent control petition concedes the status of the revision
petitioner as his only tenant in the building.
The result of the above discussion is that challenge against
the order/judgment fails. Rent Control Petition will stand
R.C.R..No.300/2008 4
dismissed. Since the rent control petition is of the year 2007, the
Rent Control Court is directed to special list the rent control
petition for trial at the earliest and ensure that decision on
merits of the rent control petition is taken at the earliest.
PIUS.C.KURIAKOSE,JUDGE
C.K.ABDUL REHIM, JUDGE
dpk