PRADEEP KUMAR CHHABRA Vs. KUMUD SHARMA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This petition assails order dtd. 24/2/2022 passed by the learned Civil Judge in CS SCJ 756/2020, dismissing the objection raised by the petitioner, as the defendant before the learned Civil Judge under Order XXIII Rule 1(3) read with Order XXIII Rule 1(4) of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 (CPC).

(2.) The respondent had filed an eviction petition against the petitioner under Sec. 14(1)(e) of the Delhi Rent Control Act, 1958. The petitioner, as the respondent in the said eviction petition, contested, in its reply to the eviction petition, the factum of tenancy and claimed that the petitioner was not a tenant of the respondent.

(3.) The respondent, thereupon, withdrew the eviction petition filed by it and proceeded to file CS SCJ 756/2020, from which the present proceedings emanate. The earlier Eviction Petition No. E-15/19, filed by the respondent against the petitioner under Sec. 14(1)(e) of the DRC Act asserted that the petitioner had been inducted as a tenant in the property forming subject matter of the petition (hereinafter "the suit premises") vide a rent agreement dtd. 23/5/1989. Apart from alleging default in payment of rent on the part of the petitioner, the respondent further asserted, in the eviction petition, that the suit premises were required by the respondent in order to carry out his business and that he had no alternative premises which were suitable for the said purpose. The respondent claimed title over the suit property on the basis of a will executed in his favour by one Shri Moti Lal on 26/4/1985.