THAKUR RAM SAHAI SINHA Vs. T BIMLA DEVI

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Defendant No. 1 has come up in second appeal against the judgment of reversal passed by the lower appellate court, namely, First Additional Subordinate Judge, Gaya. One Simla Devi, respondent No. 1, as plaintiff, instituted Money Suit No. 66 of 1963, praying for a decree for Rs. 1,120 against three persons, namely, the appellant (defendant No. 1), the State of Bihar and one Sri Balmiki Prasad Sinha impleading the latter two as defendants 2 and 3. The claim was on account of 'rent or damage' in respect of a house at the rate of Rs. 40 per month for a period of 28 months from February, 1960 to May, 1962. The plaintiff prayed for a joint decree against the three defendants.

(2.) Although the case of the plaintiff as to who was inducted as tenant in respect of the house in question is highly shaky, it appears that the plaintiff sought to make out a case that the Criminal Intelligence Department of the State of Bihar was a tenant in respect of this house through its employee defendant No. 1 working as a Group Officer of that Department. As it appears from the submission made by the learned, counsel for the appellant (defendant No. 1), defendant No. 1 used the premises in question both for office purposes as also for his residential purposes. The plaintiff's case further was that defendant No. 3 had been inducted as a sublessee by defendant No. 1. There being default in payment of rent, the suit was instituted, as stated above, for a joint decree for 'rent or damage' against all the three defendants.

(3.) It appears that sometime at the stage of hearing of the suit the plaintiff did not want to press her claim for rent against the State of Bihar and a petition to that effect was filed which appears to have been accepted by the trial Court. The result was that the State of Bihar (defendant No. 2) left the scene and the suit was contested by the remaining defendants only, both of whom disowned their liability to pay the rent claimed.