M. GULAM RASOOL Vs. T.S. GOVINDARAJAN

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE tenant is the revision petitioner. His eviction was sought on the ground of sub-letting.

(2.) THE case of the first respondent/landlord is that the revision petitioner became his tenant on a monthly rent of Rs. 350, that he had let out a portion of the property to respondents 2 to 4 without his consent in writing, that on 19.12.1987 he sent a notice to the revision petitioner taking exception to this, that at that time one Selvaraj was running a barber shop in the property, that after he vacated the portion, it was let out to the second respondent, that the revision petitioner had accepted in the reply to the notice that the property had been sub-let, that the said sub-tenants were there even before the revision petitioner came to the property, that the first respondent gave permission to the revision petitioner to collect the rent for respondents 2 to 4, that because of sub-letting the revision petitioner and respondents 2 to 4 were liable to be evicted.

(3.) RESPONDENTS 2 to 4 filed counter contending inter alia that they were not sub-tenants, that they were in occupation of the property even prior to the occupation by the revision petitioner, that the first respondent instructed these respondents to pay the rent to the revision petitioner, that it was not true to say that at the time the petitioner came to occupy the property the entire building was vacant, that these respondents were doing business in the petition property, that the revision petitioner had been paying the rent regularly, that he could not be asked to vacate at the whim and fancy of the first respondent and the petition was not maintainable.