KISHORILAL SARAFF Vs. GOPAL TULSIYAN

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The petitioner who is defendant first party in an action for ejectment from the premises in suit, has come up to this Court against the order of the learned Munsif, Khagaria striking out his defence against ejectment. The question that arises for consideration in this case is as to whether a tenant who deposits the arrears of rent within the time wrongly extended by the Court is liable to suffer the penalty of his defence against ejectment being struck off under the provisions of Section 11-A of the Bihar Buildings (Lease, Rent and Eviction) Control Act, 1947 hereinafter referred to as the Act.

(2.) An order under Section 11-A of the Act was passed by the court below on 30-10-76 allowing time to the petitioner till the 15th of Nov. 1976, to deposit the arrears of rent. On that date, i. e. Z5th November itself, the petitioner made an application for extension of the period allowed to him to deposit the arrears of rent. In view of a large number of decisions of this Court, the Court below was not empowered to extend the statutory period which was originally allowed by it to the defendant petitioner to make the deposit, but the learned Munsif instead of rejecting the application, granted extension to the petitioner to make the deposit up to the 22nd of Nov. 1976. The petitioner, however, deposited the amount within this period and the deposit was accepted by the trial court.

(3.) The plaintiff opposite party made an application on the 22nd of Nov. 1976, for striking out of the defence of the petitioner on the plea that the petitioner had committed default by not making the deposit within the statutory period, i. e., 15th of Nov. 1976, originally allowed by the trial Court. This petition was ultimately taken up for consideration on the 16th of Dec. 1976, and by that order the learned Munsif struck off the defence of the petitioner against his ejectment. There is no discussion in the impugned Order of any matter, much less the effect of granting of the extension to the petitioner.