HEMALATHA Vs. JEEVANANTHAM

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The batch of Civil Revision Petitions have been posted before the Division Bench to resolve the conflict between two Single Bench decisions of this Court regarding the requirement of a registered tenancy agreement under Sec. 4 of the Tamil Nadu Regulation of Rights and Responsibilities of Landlords and Tenants Act, 2017.

(2.) The learned Single Judge, noticing the divergence of views between two learned Judges on the necessity of a registered tenancy agreement for invoking the jurisdiction of the Rent Authority, Rent Court and Rent Tribunal constituted under the said Act, has made the present reference.

(3.) Historically, rent control order in the erstwhile Madras Presidency Legislative History of Rent Act, emerged as an emergency response to wartime exigencies. During the period of the Second World War, acute scarcity of housing and the risk of arbitrary evictions necessitated regulatory intervention. Consequently, the Rent Control Order of 1941 was promulgated as a temporary measure to curb unreasonable eviction of tenants and to regulate rents. This measure, though conceived as transient, was extended periodically in view of continuing necessity.