RAGHUBIR PRASAD Vs. SURYA NARAYAN

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This is an application by a tenant assailing the order passed by the trial Court in a suit for eviction on the ground available to the plaintiff under section 11 of the Bihar Buildings (Lease, Rent and Eviction) Control Act, 1982, (hereinafter referred to as 'the Act') and being tried under the special procedure provided under section 14 of the Act.

(2.) The Court below has disposed of an application by the plaintiff-landlord under section 15 of the Act and has directed the payment of arrears of rent and current rent with the consequences mentioned in S. 15 of the Act on default of compliance of the order.

(3.) Mr. Kalika Nandan, learned counsel for the petitioner, has submitted that section 14 of the Act, being a special procedure, under which the claim of arrears of rent cannot be claimed, relief under section 15 of the Act cannot be granted. He has also relied on section 13 of the Act which protects section 14 from the effect of other enactments and the other clauses of the Act itself. Mr. Kalika Nandan further submitted that since no claim for arrears of rent has been made in the plaint of the suit and it has been specifically stated that a fresh suit for that purpose shall be filed, the defendant could not state his stand with regard to that claim. Further, if the landlord withdrew the amount and it was subsequently found that there were no arrears, the tenant will be faced with numerous procedural wrangles in obtaining the refund of the money so taken away by the plaintiff.