G SURAPA RAJU Vs. T MOHANA RAO

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This revision petition is directed against the order dt.30-11-1991 in CMA No. 12/90 on the file of the Rent Control Appellate Authority, Bhimavaram reversing the finding in R.C.C. No. 4 / 87 dt. 16-2-1990 on the file of the Rent Controller-cum-Principal District Munsif, Bhimavaram.

(2.) Petitioner is the tenant and respondent is the landlord. The landlord filed R.C.C. No. 4 / 87 on three grounds viz. (1) bonafide requirement for his personal occupation, (2) acts of waste by the tenant and (3) wilful default in payment of rents by the tenant. The learned Rent Controller, after going through the oral and documentary evidence, found that the grounds sought for evicting the tenant were untenable and, therefore, dismissed the eviction petition. Aggrieved by the said order dated 16-2-1990 the landlord carried the matter by way of CMA No.12/90. The lower appellate Court, while confirming the finding of the trial Court on two counts viz., bonafide requirement and acts of waste held that the tenant committed wilful default in payment of rents and, therefore, ordered eviction. Aggrieved by the said order, the present revision is filed.

(3.) Sri P.S. Narayana, learned counsel for the petitioner-tenant, mainly contends that the tenant, who has been running the business in the premises in question right from 1967, has never committed default; it is only for the months of September and October, 1982 the tenant was found to have committed default. According to the petitioner, when he approached the landlord for payment of rent, the landlord did not accept the rent on the ground that the rerft payment receipt book was not available. It is further contended that inasmuch as the period of lease was coming to an end by September, 1982, the landlord, in order to evict the tenant, had cleverly refused to accept the rent due to be paid for the months of September and October, 1982 on some pretext or the other. That being the situation, it cannot be said that the tenant has committed default muchless wilful default.