DEOKI PROSAD KHAITAN Vs. DULICHAND ASOPA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The appellant Deoki Prosad Khaitan alias Deoki Nandan Khaitan, was a tenant in respect of a portion of premises No. 2, Shib Thakur Lane, Calcutta. The contractual rent was Rs. 370/- per month but a proceeding for standardisation of rent is pending in this Court in Civil Revision Case No. 2153 of 1952.

(2.) On 24-2-1951, the Respondent No. 1, Dulichand Asofa and his brother Inderdiand Asofa, the predecessor of the other respondents claiming to be the landlords of the appellant instituted Ejectment Suit No. 456 of 1951 in the Court of Small Causes, Calcutta, for eviction of the appellant from the disputed premises and for recovery of arrears of rent and mesne profits. The main allegation in the plaint was that the appellant was a habitual defaulter and was not entitled to any protection under the Rent Control Act on account of his systematic defaults in the payment of rent.

(3.) The defence inter alia was denial of the said allegation and a denial further that there was any relationship of landlord and tenant between the parties, the specific plea of the defendant in that behalf being that the Firm Dulichand Inderchand Asofa, and not the plaintiffs above named, were the appellant's landlords.