VIJAY CHOPRA Vs. DHARAM CHAND JAIN

JUDGEMENT

(1.) By this second appeal under Section 39 of the Delhi Rent Control Act, 1958 (hereinafter called 'the Act') the tenant-appellant challenges the legality of the judgment passed on 24th January, 1985, by the Rent Control Tribunal (hereinafter called 'the Tribunal') setting aside the order of the Additional Rent Controller (herein called 'the Controller') passed under section 15(1) of the Act. The Controller bad directed that without prejudice to the respective contentions of the parties, the tenant would deposit the entire arrears of rent at the rate of Rs. 350.00 per month with effect from 1st March, 1983. The Tribunal, however, calculated the rent at the rate of Rs. 650.00 per month and directed its deposit at that rate.

(2.) To appreciate the rival contentions of the parties a Few facts may be noticed. The landlord-respondent herein-Shri D.C. Jain, filed a petition under section 14(1)(a) of the Act seeking a decree of eviction against the tenant-appellant herein, on the ground of non-payment of arrears of rent. In paragraph 13 of the petition the details of the monthly rent due and other charges, have been given as follows :

(3.) The tenant in her written statement admitted the relationship of landlord and tenant between the parties. She further admitted service of the above-said legal notice. It was averred that the parties had entered into two separate agreements on 1st September, 1980-one was a lease agreement and the other was an agreement for "fixtures and fittings". The rent agreed to between the parties under the first agreement was Rs. 350.00 per month and hire charges for fixtures and fittings at the rate of Rs. 300.00 per month. A list of the fixtures and fittings was appended as Schedule A to the second agreement. The plea of the tenant was that eviction petition on the ground of non-payment of arrears of hire charges for fixtures and fittings was outside the scope of the Act and thus the petition qua that claim was incompetent.