BHARGAVAKULA NAINARGAL SANGAM AND ORS. Vs. ARUNACHALA UDAYAR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THESE second appeals and the civil revision petition have come before us on a reference made by Ratnavel Pandian, J. (as he then was) by his judgment dt. 8 -9 -1980 made in Second Appeal Nos. 1461 to 11466 of 1980. As the point of law involved in the other matters is also same, they are also posted along with the said second appeals.

(2.) ONE Bhargavakula Nainargal Sangam, represented by its President, Dhandapani filed the suit in O.S. Nos. 133 of 1978, 135 of 1978, 137 of 1978, 139 of 1978/141 of 1978, 143 of 1978 and 145 of 1978 on the file of the District Munsif, Vellore for eviction of the defendants from the respective suit properties on the ground that they are the tenants under plaintiff Sangam. It is relevant to point out at the outset that the said suits are filed after the petitions filed before the learned Rent Controller, Vellore were dismissed on the ground that the properties in question are vacant sites and therefore, he has no jurisdiction to entertain the said petitions. The plaintiff shall be referred to as the landlord and the defendants shall be referred to as the tenants for the sake of convenience. The plaintiff -Sangam is the appellant in Second Appeal Nos. 1461 to 1466 of 1980 and the various respondents in these appeals are the tenants in respect of certain portions of the suit properties belonging to the Plaintiff -Sangam.

(3.) WHEN the second appeals came up before Ratnavel Pandian, J.(as he then was), it was argued before him that the view taken by the lower court is erroneous, in view of the decision of Ramaprasada Rao, CJ. in Boologanathan v. Govindarajan : (1979) 2 MLJ 47 following an earlier decision of a Division Bench of this Court reported in Veeraswamy Naicker v. Alamelu Ammal : AIR 1965 Mad 442 . It was brought to the notice of the learned Judge that there were some other conflicting decisions. A specific reference was made to the decision reported in Madhava Raw Naidu v. Sri Gangadeeswarar Temple : AIR 1947 Mad 125 wherein it was held that the tenancy was determined by denial of landlord's title. This decision was followed by another Division Bench of this Court consisting of Veeraswami, J. (as he then was) and Kun Hameed Kutti, J. reported in Veeraswami Naickery. Alamelu Ammal : AIR 1965 Mad 442 , wherein it was held that