SHAMIM AKHTAR Vs. IQBAL AHMAD

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Leave granted.

(2.) The controversy raised in this case relates to eviction of the tenant from the premises described as House No. CK 48/200, Mohalla Harsha, Varanasi. The appellant claiming to be the landlady of the said house filed a petition under Section 20 of the Uttar Pradesh Urban Buildings (Regulation of Letting, Rent and Eviction) Act, 1972 (hereinafter referred to as 'the Act'), for eviction of respondent No. 1-tenant from the house. The proceeding was registered as Suit No. 457/80 in the Court of the Addl. Judge, Small Cause Court at Varanasi. In the petition, eviction of the tenant was sought on the ground that he had denied the title of the landlady and had defaulted in payment of rent. The appellant also sought recovery of arrears of rent from 18-10-1979 to 11-11-1980. Tracing her interest in the house in question the appellant stated that the house was initially owned by Fakia Bibi alias Fatti Bibi who made a gift (hiba) of the property to her sole surviving daughter Khairunnisa Bibi alias Kunno Bibi who was then living with her. Fakia Bibi's son Mohd. Ibrahim was permanently residing at Calcutta and her other children had died by then. After making the said gift in favour of her daughter, Fakia Bibi went to Calcutta and stay with her son Mohd. Ibrahim leaving behind her husband Shaikh Jumman and her daughter Khairunnisa Bibi at Varanasi. Fakia Bibi died in 1949 at Calcutta. Khairunnisa Bibi who was the sole owner of the suit premises allowed her father Shaikh Jumman to run his business on the premises in question. Shaikh Jumman died on 26th August, 1953. Khairunnisa Bibi after her marriage was residing in District Jaunpur. She had inducted the respondent Iqbal Ahmad as a tenant in 1960 in the suit-house on rent at the rate of Rs. 15/- which was later enhanced to Rs. 25/- per month. During the subsistence of the said tenancy Khairunnisa Bibi gifted the suit property in favour of the appellant Smt. Shamim Akhtar who is the daughter-in-law of her (Khairunnisa) deceased sister, in 1979, by a registered deed of gift and directed the respondent to pay the rent current and arrears to the appellant. However, the respondent-tenant did not pay any rent to the appellant. Thereafter the appellant served the notice dated 10-10-1980 on the respondent terminating his tenancy and asking him to deliver vacant possession of the premises and also to pay the arrear rent.

(3.) Respondent No. 1 in reply to the notice admitted that Fakia Bibi was the original owner of the property. According to him in 1947, immediately after partition, Fakia Bibi had made an oral gift to Mohd. Ibrahim son of Mohd. Ishaq of Lahangpura, Aurangabad, Varanasi, and thereafter left for Pakistan in December, 1947. She died there. The respondent stated that he had been paying rent to the said Mohd. Ibrahim. He denied Khairunnisa Bibi's title to the property and clearly refused to accept her as landlady of the suit-house in question. Thereafter the appellant filed the suit No. 457/80 for eviction on the grounds noted earlier.