RAMDEO YADAV Vs. KUMARI ARATI SARKAR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The petitioner is the defendant in an eviction suit being T.S. No. 82 of 2001 pending before the C.J. (J.D), 2nd Court, Serampore. In the plaint it is averred that the monthly rent payable by the defendant to the plaintiff is Rs. 200/- (Two Hundred) and that the defendant had been paying such rent even to the predecessor-in-interest of the plaintiff.

(2.) The defendant filed an application under Section 17(2) of the West Bengal Premises Tenancy Act, 1956 and a dispute arose as regard the quantum of monthly rent. The plaintiff wanted to tender in evidence the counterfoils of the money receipts issued by the plaintiff's predecessor-in-interest in support of the plaintiff's case that the monthly rent was Rs. 200/-(Two Hundred). Initially the said two documents were not exhibited but marked for identification.

(3.) In course of hearing of the application under Section 17(2), the plaintiff filed a petition praying for leave to mark the said counterfoils as exhibits. The learned Judge considered the submissions of the both parties and came to a finding that the counterfoils were mentioned in the written affidavit-in-chief filed by the plaintiff but were not exhibited. The learned Judge was of the opinion that the plaintiff would be prejudiced if he is not permitted to mark those documents as exhibits and the defendant should get an opportunity to cross-examine the witness on this point. Accordingly, the learned Judge gave a chance to the plaintiff to recall P.W. 1 for marking those counterfoils as exhibits with liberty to the defendant to cross-examine the witness on this point. Being aggrieved by this the defendant is before this Court by way of the instant revisional application.