Holding

A deposit of rent under Section 6A is deemed a valid payment of rent and the requirement of interest and costs under the proviso to Section 13(2)(i) does not apply to it.

Summary

The tenant, Brij Bhushan, applied to the Rent Controller under Section 6A of the Haryana Urban (Control of Rent and Eviction) Act, 1973, to deposit rent because the landlord, Kewal Kumar, refused to accept rent and give a receipt. The tenant deposited Rs. 7,500 covering rent from 12‑Feb‑1987 to 11‑May‑1988. The landlord later filed an eviction suit under Section 13(2)(i) claiming additional rent, interest and costs. The Rent Controller held the Section 6A deposit invalid for lack of interest and costs and allowed eviction. On appeal, the appellate authority and the High Court set aside that order, holding the deposit was a valid tender. The Supreme Court affirmed that the proviso requiring interest and costs under Section 13(2)(i) does not apply to deposits made under Section 6A, and dismissed the appeal.

Issues considered

Whether a deposit of rent made under Section 6A of the Haryana Urban (Control of Rent and Eviction) Act, 1973, constitutes a valid tender of rent notwithstanding the non‑payment of interest and costs required by the proviso to Section 13(2)(i).

Legislation cited

Haryana Urban (Control of Rent and Eviction) Act, 1973s. 13(2)(i), s. 6A

Subjects

rent controlevictionSection 6Adeposit of rentinterest and costslandlord-tenant disputeHaryana Urban Rent Actvalid tender

Judgment

A BRIJ BHUSHAN
v.
KEWAL KUMAR

AUGUST 5, 1998

B [DR. A.S. ANAND, B.N KIRPAL AND V.N KHARE, JJ.)

Rent Control and Eviction :

Haryana Urban [Control of Rent and Eviction] Act, 1973:
c
Ss. 6 A and 13(2)(i) proviso-Application by tenant to deposit rent in
Court alleging that landlord refused to accept the same-On orders of
Rent Controller tenant deposited rent- Thereafter application uls 13 by
landlord for ejectment of tenant on ground that rent had become due with
cost and interest-Tenant resisting the claim of landlord-Landlord filed
D no rejoinder nor did he challenge the order uls. 6-A- Application uls 13
for ejectment allowed-Held, Rent Controller imported the requirement of
the proviso to s. 13(2)(i) into s. 6-A which was wholly erroneous-Ground
for holding that deposit, 6-A was not valid because interest and cost had
not been paid is erroneous-There is no such requirement regarding payment
E of interest and cost uls 6-A-Tenant had deposited rent uls 6-A and also
cost and interest as contemplated by s. 13(2)(i)-Application for eviction
ought to have been rejected by Rent Controller-Appel/ate authority and
High Court committed no error in setting aside the order of Rent Controller
and dismissing ejectment application filed by landlord.

p CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION : Civil Appeal no. 2755 of
r
1998.

From the Judgment and Order dated 3.4.97 of the Punjab and Haryana
High Court in C.R. No. 481of1997.

M.L. Verma and K.B. Rohtagi for the Appellant.
G
O.P Sharma, R.C Gubrele, K.R. Gupta and Ashok Sudan for the
Respondent.

The following Order of the Court was delivered :

H The only question involved in this appeal by special leave is whether
1016
BRJJ BHUSHAN v. KEW AL KUMAR 1017
the amount deposited by the tenant/respondent under Section 6A was valid A
tender? The learned Rent Controller held the deposit as not a valid tender
while the appellate authority and the revisional court took a contrary view.

The factual matrix of the case is that the tenant/respondent filed an
application under Section 6A of the Haryana Urban (Control of Rent &
eviction ) Act, 1973, (hereinafter referred to as the 'Act') before the learned B
Rent Controller, Ambala on 19 .5 .88 alleging that the landlord was not receiving
rent and was also not issuing receipt for the same, and, therefore, the tenant
had no other option available to him except to deposit the arrears of rent in
that court. On obtaining orders from the learned Rent Controller the tenant
deposited the rent from 12.2.87 to 11.5.88 amounting to Rs. 7500 in respect C
of the demised premises in the court. Notice was directed to be issued to the
respondent for withdrawal of the amount by the learned Rent controller. While
the matter rested thus, the landlord filed an application under Section 13 of
the Act seeking ejectment of the tenant from the demised premises on the
ground that the tenant had not paid the rent to the landlord from 12.2.87 to
11.8.88 at the rate of Rs. 500 p.m. and a sum of Rs. 9000 had become due and D
payable to the landlord along with cost and interest. The tenant resisted the
application for ejectment and in the written statement asserted that he had
already deposited the arrears of rent from 12.2.87 to 11.5.88 amountomg in to
Rs. 7500 under Section 6A of the Act under orders of the court dated 14/15.6.
1988 and that the necessity to do so had arisen because the landlord had
refused to receive the rent and give receipt for the same. It was maintained E
in the written statement that the landlord did not receive the rent in spited
of best efforts made by the tenant and that attitude of the landlord compelled
him to move the court of the Rent Controller under Section 6A of the Act
seeking permission to deposit the rent in the court. No rejoinder was filed
to this written Statement. The lanplord also did not challenge the order of F
;. the Rent Controller made under Section 6A at any stage. Thus, the assertion
of the tenant both in the application under Section 6A and in the written
statement to the effect that the landlord despite the best efforts made by the
tenant had refused to receive the rent and give receipt for the same remained
unrebuted. The learned Rent Controller inspite of this position allowed the
application for ejectment on 25.7.94 and while deciding issue No.2 which G
reads-

"Whether the respondent has deposited the rent from 12.2.1987
to 11.5.188 under Section 6A of the Rent Act, if so, its effect?", held:-

"Under this issue, the respondent is required to prove that the H
1018 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [1998] 3 S.C.R.

A respondent deposited the rent from 12.2.87 to 11.5.88 under Section
6-A of the Rent Act. There is admission of the deposit of the rent but
the tender cannot be called a valid tender, in view of the interest and
the assessment (sic: of cost) being not paid and ci1eir being no
evidence to this effect. In these, circumstances, issue No. 2 is proved
against the respondent."
B
The order of ejectment dated 25.7.94 was successfully challenged by
the tenant before the appellate authority and a revision filed by the landlord
against the appellate authority was dismissed by the High Court.
. '
We have heard the learned counsel for the parties and examined the
C record. Section 6A of the Act reads thus:-

"6-A . Deposit of rent. - (1) Notwithstanding anything to the
contrary contained in any other law for the time being in force, if a
landlord refuses to receive, or grant a receipt for, any rent payable in
respect of the building or rented land when tendered to him by a
D tenant, the tenant may apply to the controller for leave to deposit,
the rent in his office, and the Controller shall receive the deposit. If,
after examining the applicant, he is satisfied that there is sufficient
ground for the application and if the applicant pays the fee, if any,
chargeable for the issue of the notice hereinafter provided.

E (2) When a deposit has been received under sub-section (I), it
shall be deemed to be a payment made by the tenant to his landlord
in respect of the rent due.

(3) On receiving the deposit, the Controller shall give notice of
the receipt thereof to the landlord and shall pay the amount thereof
F to him."

The requirement of deposit of interest and cost is a requirement
provided by the proviso to Section 13(2) (i) of the Act. That proviso reads
thus:-

G "Provided that if the tenant, within a period of fifteen days of the
first hearing of the application of ejectment after due service, pays
or tenders the arrears of rent and interest, to be calculated by the
Controller, at eight percentum per annum on such arrears together
with such costs of the application, if any, as may be allowed by the
Controller, the tenant shall be deemed to have duly paid or tendered
H the rent within the time aforesaid;
\
~

BRIJ BHUSHAN v. KEW AL KUMAR 1019
Provided further that the landlord shall not be entitled to claim A
arrears ofrent for a period exceeding three years immediately preceding
the date of application under the provisions of this Act;"

The learned Rent Controller imported the requirement of the proviso to
Section 13(2) (i) of the Act into Section 6A which was wholly erroneous. The
ground for holding that the deposit under Section 6A was not valid because B
interest and cost had not been paid is not tenable. There is no such requirement
regarding payment of interest and costs under Section 6A of the Act.

Jn the established facts and situation that the tenant had deposited the
rent from 12.2.87 to 11.5.88 under Section 6A of the Act and had also tendered
rent for the remaining period along with interest and cost as contemplated by c
the proviso to Section 13(2) (i) of the Act, the application for eviction ought
to have been rejected by the learned Rent Controller. Both the appellate
authority and the High Court, therefore, committee! no error in setting aside
the order of the Rent Controller and dismissing the ejectrnent application
filed by the landlord under Section 13(2) (i) of the Act against the tenant. D
For what we have said above, there is no merit in this appeal which fails,
and, is hereby dismissed. No costs.

R.P. Appeal dismissed.