PARAMJEET SINGH Vs. MAHAVIR PRASAD

JUDGEMENT

(1.) By way of this petition under Article 227 of the Constitution, the petitioner-tenant assails an order of the learned Principal District and Sessions Judge (HQ) and Rent Control Tribunal (Central), Tis Hazari Courts, Delhi [hereinafter, "the Tribunal"] in RCT No. 55/2018 [Mahavir Prasad vs. Shri Paramjeet Singh]. By the impugned order, the Tribunal has partly allowed the appeal of the respondent-landlord against an order of the Rent Controller dtd. 28/2/2018, by which the eviction petition filed by the landlord [E. No. 79974/2016] was dismissed by the Rent Controller.

(2.) The landlord filed the eviction proceedings against the tenant in respect of a shop bearing No. A-11, Property No. 773, Chabi Ganj, Kashmere Gate, Delhi-110006 [hereinafter, "the suit property"] under Ss. 14(1)(a) and 14(1)(b) of the Delhi Rent Control Act, 1958 [hereinafter, "the Act"]. The case of the landlord was that the suit property was owned by his deceased father Late Shri Deep Chand who had inducted the tenant into the property at a monthly rent of ?125/-. The landlord claimed that the suit property was bequeathed to him by way of a will of Late Shri Deep Chand dtd. 16/10/1995. Contending that the tenant was in arrears of rent since 1/4/2002, which had not been tendered despite service of demand notices, and that the tenant had inducted a sub-tenant into the premises, the landlord sought eviction of the tenant.

(3.) The tenant admitted his status as a tenant, but denied the relationship of landlord and tenant between the parties. It was alleged that Late Shri Deep Chand was collecting the rent on behalf of a trust of Dharamshala Shree Chander Dev Bhagwan [hereinafter, "the Trust"], and that the Trust was in fact the owner of the suit property.