P V G PATRUDU Vs. C P RAMANATHAN

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THIS second appeal has been filed against the judgment and decree, dated 25. 10. 2007, made in A. S. No. 470 of 2007, on the file of the vii Additional Judge, City Civil Court, Chennai, confirming the judgment and decree, dated 21. 07. 2007, made in O. S. No. 3818 of 2006, on the file of the VI assistant Judge, City Civil Court, Chennai.

(2.) FOR the sake of convenience, the parties in the appeal are referred to as they have been arrayed in the original suit in O. S. No. 3818 of 2006.

(3.) BASED on the averments made on behalf of the plaintiff, as well as the defendant and on the basis of the evidence, both documentary as well as oral, the trial Court had found that the plaintiff had taken the suit property from the Pachaiyappa's Trust for residential purpose and that the said fact has not been denied by the defendant. The plaintiff had filed necessary documents to prove the same. The defendant had stated that he had taken the suit property from the plaintiff on rent. However, the plaintiff had claimed that the suit property was given to the defendant only on licence and not on lease. Therefore, the main issue that was to be decided by the trial court was whether the suit property was given by the plaintiff to the defendant on licence or on lease. To prove that the suit property was given to the defendant on lease, the defendant had filed the receipts signed by the wife of the plaintiff. The defendant has not filed any receipt signed by the plaintiff for payment of the rental amounts in respect of the suit property. The plaintiff had marked Ex. A-16, which is a letter addressed by the defendant to the plaintiff requesting for time upto the month of December, 2002, for vacating the premises due to the ill-health of his wife. The trial Court had also found that the defendant has not filed any other receipts, except the receipts signed by the plaintiff's wife and son for payment of rent. Even though the defendant has claimed that he has been residing in the suit property from the year, 1997, the defendant had filed only Exhibits B-1, B-5 and B-6 as receipts for the months of March, April, May, June, July and August, 1998, and for the month of February 1999. 7. 1. The trial Court had also found that the defendant has been writing letters to various authorities stating that the suit property has been given to the plaintiff unauthorisedly and illegally by the pachaiyappa's Trust, without obtaining the necessary permission either from the board of the Pachaiyappa's Trust or from the Court. The defendant has not shown any proof that he has taken the suit property from the plaintiff on lease on a monthly rental basis. The defendant has also not shown that he has been paying the rents regularly without default. The claim of the defendant that he has taken the suit property on oral lease has not been proved by the defendant. Even in the written statement, such a plea has not been advanced. Even though the defendant has been requesting the Pachaiyappa's Trust to recognise him as a tenant in the suit property such request has not been accepted by the said trust. The rental amounts sent to the Trust by the defendant has not been accepted. In spite of his claim that he has been paying the rental amount to the plaintiff, no other document has been filed to show that the defendant is in the suit property as a tenant, except the three receipts filed by the defendant, marked as Exhibits B1, B5 and B6. 7. 2. The trial Court had also found that the defendant had denied the rights of the plaintiff in the suit property. Though, the defendant had stated that he was paying Rs. 6750/- as rent for the suit property, it was found that the defendant had not been paying the rental amount to the plaintiff as claimed by him. BASED on such finding, the trial Court had decreed the suit directing the defendant to hand over possession of the suit property to the plaintiff and also by directing the defendant to pay Rs. 5,000/-per month, as damages, to the plaintiff for the use and occupation of the suit property.