STATE BANK OF INDIA Vs. SHIV CHARAN GUPTA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) By the order dtd. 2/2/2019, the Rent Tribunal declined an application under Sec. 151 CPC instituted by the petitioner-tenant for cross-examination of the applicant-non- petitioner-landlord; of which the petitioner-tenant is aggrieved of.

(2.) Learned Counsel for the petitioner, while assailing the legality, validity and correctness of the impugned order dated 2 nd February, 2019, insistently argued that cross-examination is a valuable right, and therefore, ought not to have been declined by the Rent Tribunal in the pending proceedings. According to the counsel, on an application instituted by the applicant-non- petitioner dtd. 17/11/2018, requesting the Rent Tribunal to call upon the parties, if they intended to cross-examine their counter-parts on the affidavits filed in lieu of examination-in- chief; the petitioner-tenant did not decline the opportunity. Hence, in such circumstances, it was all the more necessary for the Rent Tribunal to grant the application seeking permission for cross- examination of the applicant-non-petitioner.

(3.) Reference has also been made to the opinion of the Apex Court of the land in the case of Ramswaroop Versus Charanjeet Singh and Ors.: 2007 (4) RLW 3247, amplifying the plea that when the application seeking permission for cross-examination was not vague and unspecific, the Tribunal should have granted prayer for cross-examination in the interest of justice.