NAMDEO LOKMAN LODHI Vs. NARMADABAI

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This is an appeal by defendant 1 from the decree of the High Court of Judicature at Bombay in second Appeal No. 557 of1945, whereby the High Court confirmed the decree of the lower Courts granting possession of land to the respondents on the forfeiture of a lease. The appeal is confined to survey No. 86/2 at Mundhava in Poona district.

(2.) The principal question arising for decision in the appeal is whether notice as contemplated by S. 111 (g), T. P. Act, is necessary for the determination of a lease for non-payment of rent even where such lease was executed before the coming into force of the Transfer of Property Act. The only other question that falls for determination is whether the High Court should have interfered with the discretion of the lower Courts in refusing relief against forfeiture in the circumstances of this case.

(3.) The present respondents are the daughter and grandsons of the original plaintiff Vinayakbhat. His adoptive mother was Ramabai. She owned two inam lands at Mundhava which were then numbered Pratibhandi Nos. 71 and 72. Present survey Nos. 86/1 and 86/2 together correspond to old Pratibhandi No. 71. On 1-7-1863 Ramabai, while she was in financial difficulties, passed a permanent lease of both these numbers to one Ladha Ibrahim Sheth. The lessee paid a premium of Rs. 999 for the lease, and also agreed to pay a yearly rent of Rs. 80 to Ramabai during her lifetime and after her death a yearly amount equal to the assessment of the two lands to the heirs of Ramabai. The lease provided that in default of payment of rent, the tenant's rights would come to an end. On 18-8-1870 Ladha Ibrahim sold his tenancy rights to one Girdhari Balaram Lodhi for Rs. 7,999. The sale-deed provided that in default of payment of rent to Ramabai or her heirs, the purchaser would have no rights whatsoever left over the property. On the same day the purchaser passed a rent note in favour of Ramabai. The rent note provided for the payment of the agreed rent in the month of Poush every year, and stated that in case of default the tenant or his heirs would have no right over the land. Defendant 1 and the other defendants are the grandsons of Sethi Girdhari Balaram.