KISHUN SAH Vs. HARINANDAN PRASAD SAH

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The only question which requires consideration in this case is whether the Civil Court has jurisdiction to adjudicate upon the correctness of the finding of the House Controller in a case for eviction of a tenant under Section II of the Bihar Buildings (Lease, Rent and Eviction) Control Act, 1947 (hereinafter to be referred to as the Act) that the relationship of landlord and tenant exists between the parties.

(2.) The facts, relevant for decision of this case, are as follows. Mahabir (defendant No. 8) inducted the plaintiff as a monthly tenant in the house in suit in 1945. He filed an application before (he House Controller for eviction of the plaintiff; but the controller rejected the application by an order dated the 7th September, 1949. The defendants-first-party are descendants of defendant No. 8 by his first wife. There was a partition suit between the defendants inter se which was decreed on compromise. The house in question fell, according to the compromise, in the share of the defendants-first-party, who filed an application under Section II of the Act for eviction of the plaintiff on two grounds, viz., (1) non-payment of rent and (2) personal necessity. The Controller rejected this application; but the Collector allowed it on the ground of personal necessity. The plaintiff then instituted a suit for declaration that the decree passed in the partition suit was collusive and fraudulent, and that the Collector's order for ejectment of the plaintiff, which was confirmed by the Commissioner, was void, inoperative and without jurisdiction as there was no relationship of landlord and tenant between him and the defendants-first-party.

(3.) The Munsif, who tried the suit, held that the decree in the suit for partition between the defendants was fraudulent and collusive, and that the order of eviction of the plaintiff passed by the Collector and confirmed by the Commissioner relating to the house in suit was void, without jurisdiction and ineffective in law. On these findings, he decreed the suit.