ALLIANCE ASSOCIATION LTD Vs. SAGWAMAL KISHAN LAL

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This appeal is directed against the judgment and decree dated 14.03.2012, whereby an application filed by the respondent under Order 7 Rule 11 (d) of the Code of Civil Procedure for rejection of the plaint was allowed and consequently the plaint was rejected. The facts giving rise to the filing of this appeal can be summarized as under:-

(2.) Section 4 of the Delhi Rent Control Act to the extent relevant for our purpose, provided that except where rent is liable to periodical increase by virtue of an agreement entered into before the 1st day of 1939, no tenant, shall, notwithstanding any agreement to the contrary, be liable to pay to his landlord, any amount in excess of the standard rent of the premises, unless such amount is a lawful increase of the standard rent in accordance with the provisions of the Act. It further provided that any agreement for payment of rent in excess of the standard rent shall be construed as if it were an agreement for the payment of the standard rent only. Thus, as per the aforesaid statutory provision, a landlord, irrespective of his agreement with the tenant, cannot recover more than a standard rent of the tenancy premises.

(3.) The constitutional validity of Sections 4, 6 and 9 of the Delhi Rent Control Act all of such deal with standard rent was challenged before this Court by way of CWP 2783/1997. Vide judgment dated 18.1.2002, a Division Bench of this Court, held the aforesaid provision to be ultra vires Articles 14, 19(1)(g) and 21 of the Constitution. In the course of judgment, the Division Bench, inter alia, observed as under:-