C PREMARAJAN Vs. UMA NAMBIAR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) TENANT is the revision petitioner.

(2.) THE Tenant filed petition under Sec. 8 (5) of the Pondicherry Buildings (Lease and Rent Control) Act for deposit of rent. THE petitioner became tenant under the respondent under a lease agreement dated 24.4.1998 and the monthly rent to be paid by the tenant was Rs. 3000/- and the lease is in respect of ten years. THE petitioner was paying rent from August 1998 regularly. THE petitioner contends that three months prior to the presentation of the petition, the respondent has shifted her residence to Chennai without informing the petitioner or revealing her present address and accordingly, the rent for September and October 1998 were sent by money order to the old address and the same were sent redirected by the postal authorities to Chennai and they reached the hands of the respondent who accepted the money orders sent after deducting the money order commission, whereas the rent for November 1998 was also sent by money order to old address and it was also redirected to the respondent's address at Chennai. But, the respondent refused to receive the same and the amount was returned to the petitioner and the respondent, only with a view to harass and inconvenience the petitioner, refused to receive the rent and hence, there is necessity for the petitioner to deposit the monthly rent.

(3.) AS rightly pointed out by the learned counsel for the respondent/landlady, the respondent neither refused to receive rent nor evaded to receive the rent and only because the rent for October 1998 was sent by money order after deducting the money order commission of Rs. 150/-, the landlady refused to receive the rent. In the letter sent by the landlady on 24.12.1998, the landlady had expressed her willingness to receive the rent and directed the tenant to send the rent by demand draft and also requested the tenant to deduct the demand draft commission of Rs. 10/- from the rent amount. AS the money order commission of Rs. 150/- was felt to be heavy by the landlady, she had expressed her desire to receive the rent by demand draft and directed the tenant to send the rent by money order. Even after receipt of such a letter, the tenant did not choose to send the rent by demand draft and he has come forward with the petition for depositing the rent into court.