PRABHA SINGH Vs. KIRAN MAHINDRA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The present revision petition has been filed under Article 227 of the Constitution of India challenging the order dtd. 2/9/2025, passed by the learned Rent Controller, Ludhiana, whereby the application filed by the respondent-landlady under Order 6 Rule 17 CPC for amendment of the pleadings in Rent Petition No. RP/619/2019 was allowed.

(2.) Brief facts of the case are that the petitioner is a tenant in the demised premises since 1994 and is running a gas agency therefrom. The mother of the present respondent was the original landlady. It is undisputed that the respondent had earlier filed Rent Petition No. 471 of 2016 wherein Issue No. 1 relating to arrears of rent and liability of the tenant towards payment of house tax was decided in favour of the present petitioner. The said petition was otherwise dismissed on other grounds, and an appeal filed by the present petitioner is pending adjudication.

(3.) Learned counsel for the petitioner submits that permitting an amendment regarding arrears of house tax amounts to reopening the findings recorded in RP No. 471 of 2016, wherein it was held that the rent paid by the tenant was inclusive of taxes. It is argued that the amendment violates the principle of res judicata, that it introduces a new cause of action, and that the learned Rent Controller has failed to appreciate that two rent petitions cannot simultaneously seek determination of the same issues relating to the same premises.