B S NAGARAJAN Vs. K B SIVASANKARAN

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The appellant was granted a 60 year lease on 07-05-1949 by the trustee of the respondent-temple. A suit was filed in 1979 for recovery of possession by the respondent. The appellant resisted the suit and inter alia claimed the benefits of the City Tenants' Protection Act, 1921('the Act' in short). The suit was dismissed on the ground that the respondent is not entitled to recover possession of the suit property before the stipulated lease period. The learned Single Judge, however, held that the respondent-temple was governed by the provision of the Hindu Religious & Charitable Endowments Act, 1959 (1959 Act in short) or the Madras Religious Endowments Act, 1927 (1927 Act in short) and the lease granted without the sanction of the Board was invalid and that "at the most, while he can say that he is not a trespasser..", he has no legal status as a tenant. Alongwith this appeal, the learned Single Judge also disposed of the revision filed by the appellant herein against the dismissal of the petition under Section 9 of the Act. Against this, the appellant filed a Special Leave Petition and we are informed that he was directed to agitate his rights as a city tenant in this appeal.

(2.) According to the learned counsel for the appellant, in earlier proceedings, the respondent pleaded a different case. Two suits were filed by the parties herein, both for injunction against each other. The judgment in appeal filed against those suits was marked in this suit as Ex-B17. The appeal had ended in favour of the appellant holding that he had proved possession on the date of suit. It was also urged on behalf of the appellant that there is no evidence to show that the suit property is subject to the provisions of either the 1959 Act or the 1927 Act. So, the restrictions on alienation would not apply to the lease between the parties and even assuming that the 60 year lease is invalid, there should be an implied lease, in view of the documents marked by the appellants and therefore, the tenant was entitled to the protection under the Act.

(3.) The lease deed was entered into before the Tamil Nadu Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Act, 1959 came into force. The law then applicable was the Madras Hindu Religious Endowments Act, 1927. This Act was intended, inter alia, to provide for the better administration and governance of certain Hindu Religious Endowments.