ABDUL SAMI AND ANOTHER Vs. MOHAMMAD NOOR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THIS is a landlords appeal from a decree of the Civil Judge of Moradabad dismissing their suit for the ejectment of the tenant. The plaintiff-appellants alleged in their plaint that they had let out a plot of land to the defendant-respondent Mohammad Noor on a rent of Rs. 3 p.m. and the respondent used the land for carrying on business of selling fuel wood on it; that the respondent had not paid the rent for several months; that the appellants had determined the tenancy by serving a notice on the respondent to quit within thirty days; that he had not vacated the land hence the suit. The appellants asked for a decree for arrears of rent and the ejectment of the respondent.

(2.) THE defendant resisted the suit. He denied that he had defaulted in payment of rent and also contended that the notice terminating the tenancy was invalid.

(3.) BOTH sides led evidence in support of their respective versions, but the only witnesses were the plaintiff-appellant Abdul Shami for the appellants and the defendant-respondent Mohammad Noor for himself. The plaintiff Abdul Shami in the witness box repeated his case in the plaint, but one statement made by him deserves notice in view of the arguments advanced in this appeal. He said "there was no construction on this land, nor did I give any authority for making any constructions. There is no construction on the land at the present time". The defendant Mohammad Noor deposed that the land contained a Chhappar and a latrine. In cross-examination, however, be admitted that when he took the land it was vacant (uftada). He denied that he had not paid the rent and produced money order receipts to show that rent had either been paid or tendered regularly but refused by the landlords.