ANWAR Vs. RAMACHANDRAN

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The petitioner is the respondent-tenant in R.C.(OP)No.16 of 2020 on the file of the Rent Control Court (Principal Munsiff), Kollam, a petition filed by the respondent herein-landlord under Ss. 11(2)(b) and 11(3) of the Kerala Buildings (Lease and Rent Control) Act, 1965, seeking eviction of the tenant from the petition schedule building. During the pendency of that Rent Control Petition, the landlord filed I.A.No.1 of 2020, an application under Sec. 12 of the Act, seeking an order directing the tenant to deposit the admitted arrears of rent and continue to pay rent for the petition schedule building, during the pendency of the said proceedings. The tenant filed Ext.P2 objection in Ext.P1 application. After considering the rival contentions, the Rent Control Court passed Ext.P3 order dtd. 21/5/2022, whereby the tenant is directed to remit the admitted arrears of rent, from August 2020 to May 2022, at the rate of Rs.55,000.00 per month, within a period of eight weeks from the date of that order and continue to pay rent for the subsequent period, within 15 days from the date on which it accrues.

(2.) Heard the learned counsel for the petitioner-tenant.

(3.) The learned counsel for the petitioner-tenant would contend that the directions contained in Ext.P3 order, whereby the petitioner is required to pay admitted arrears of rent from August, 2020 is legally unsustainable, since the tenant had already cleared the arrears of rent upto December, 2020. After the said period, the tenant could not pay monthly rent at the rate of Rs.55,000.00, on account of the situation prevailing in the State due to Covid-19 pandemic. Therefore, the Rent Control Court went wrong in allowing I.A.No.1 of 2022, by directing the tenant to remit the arrears of rent under Ss. 12(1) and (2) of the Act.