BUDHU MAL ETC.,versusMAHABIR PRASAD & ORS., ETC.

A
                             BUDHU MAL ETC.,
                                        v.
                    MAHABIR PRASAD & ORS., ETC.

                               AUGUST 5, 1988
B
               [R.S. PATHAK, C.J., L.M. SHARMA AND
                          N.D. OJHA. JJ.]

          Provincial Small Cause Courts Act-Section 23 of-Landlord-
    Tenant dispute-Determination of title to property let out-Whether
    landlord can unilaterally cancel a deed giving to another party benefits
c   arising out ofproperty let out whether section 23 is attracted in the case.

          These appeals were preferred by tenants against the judgment of
    the High Court in civil revisions.

D         Respondent Mahabir Prasad had executed a registered deed
    dated 8th December, 1966 with regard to premises in question, giving
    the benefits arising out of the said properties to his grandsons and their
    mother Smt. Sulocbana Devi. He informed the tenants to make pay-
    ment of rent to Smt. Sulochana Devi in terms of the said deed. Later,
    Mahabir Prasad executed a registered deed of cancellation dated 3rd
E   November, 1970, cancelling the aforesaid deed dated 8th December,
    1966 and debarring the grandsons and their mother from the right to
    realise rent and informed the tenants about the said deed of cancella·
    tion.

          Subsequently, Mahabir Prasad instituted suits in the Court of the
F   Judge, Small Causes against the appellant-tenants, for recovery of
    arrears of rent and their eviction on the ground that in spite of their
    being informed of the deed of cancellation, they had not paid· rent to
    him. The appellants contended that the deed dated 8th December, 1966,         (
    could not· be unilaterally cancelled by Mahabir Prasad, and t!J.e rent
    claimed by him bad already been paid by them to Smt. Suiochllllll Devi.
G   The title of Mahabir Prasad to realise rent was disputed by the appel-
    lants who bad contended that the suit involving a question of title was
    not cognizable by a Court of Small Causes. The Judge, Small Causes,
    decreed the suits. The appellants tiled revisions before the District
    Judge wbndismissed the same. Further revisions filed by the appellants
    in the High Court were also dismissed. The appellants moved this Court
H   for relief by special leave against the Judgments of the High Court.

                                       238
              BUDHU MAL v. MAHABIR PRASAD [OJHA~J.]

       Allowing the appeals, the Court,                                         A
       HELD: The provisions of section 23 of the Provincial Sm11ll
 Cause Courts Act (the Act) were clearly attracted in these cases· and the
 plaints in the cases ought to have been returned for presentation to a
 Court having jurisdiction to determine the title. It is true that Section
·23 does not make it obligatory on the Court of Small Causes to invari-         B
 ably return the plaint once a question of title is raised by the tenant, and
 that in a suit instituted by the landlord against bis tenant on the basis of
 contract of tenancy, a question of title could also incidentally be gone
 into and that any finding recorded by a Judge, Small Causes, in this
 behalf could not be res judicata in a suit based on title, but it cannot be
 gainsaid that in enacting section 23 the Legislature must have had in
 contemplation some cases in which the discretion to return the. plaint
                                                                                c
 ought to be exercised in order to do complete justice between the
 parties. On facts, these are cases in whicl.i in order to do· complete
 justice between the parties the plaints ought to have been returned (or
 presentation to a court having jurisdiction to determine the title· so that
 none of the parties was prejudiced. [242B, H, 243A-C, F]

     Judgments and decrees of the courts below were set aside and the
Judge, Small Causes was directed to return the plaints of the cases for
presentation to the appropriate Court as contemplated by section 23 of
the Act. [243F-G I
                                                                                E
     _CIVIL APPE_LLATE JURISDICTION: Civil Appeal Nos. 1271
and 1272 of 1978.          ·                 ·

     From the Judgment and Order dated 18.4.1978 of the Allahabad
High Court in Civil Revision Nos. 161and163 of 1975.
                                                                                F
      G .L. Sanghi, K.B. Rohtagi and Praveen Jain for the Appellants.

    Satish Chandra Aggarwal, S.K. Dhingra, Pramod Swarup, S.K.
Mehta and Aman Vachhar fQX the Respondents.

      The Judgment of the Court was delivered by'                               G

     OJHA, J. These appeals by special leave have been preferred by
tenants of certain premises against the judgment qf the Allahabad
High Court dismissing their civil revisions.

      The facts in a nutshell necessary for the decision of these appeals       H
    240        SUPREME COURT REPORTS              [1988] Supp .. 2 S.C.R.

A are that one Mahabir Prasad had let out the premises in question to the
  appellants. It appears that on 28th November, 1966 Sukmal Chand
  alias Lalloo, son of Mahabir Prasad was murdered leaving Smt.
  Sulochna Devi as his widow and two sons Sanjeev Kumar alias Teetu
  aged 1-1/2 years and Ra jeev Kumar alias Cookoo aged 3 years.
B Mahabir Prasad on 8th December, 1966 executed a registered deed
  with regard to certain properties including the premises in question
  which he described as his own by using the words "out of my pro-
  perty". The nature of the deed would appear from the following recital
  contained therein:                                           ·

               "I give the benefits arising out of the above-said property
c              to my grand sons Rajeev Kumar alias Cookoo aged 3 years,
               and Sanjeev Kumar alias Teetu aged 1-1/2 years S/o
               Sukmal Chand and Guardian Smt. Sulochna Devi mother
               of the children, residents ~f Town Sardhana. Therefore
               Smt. Sulochna Devi ~ill be able to maintain herself and her
D              born and unborn children from the rent realized from the
               above-said three shops and she will use the house as her
               residence and with her I and my wife Sunheri Devi will live
               throughout life. Smt. Sulochna Devi will neither be able to
               transfer these shops and house nor to. mortgage them by
               borrowing money. She will have the right to maintain her
               children only with the benefit arising from them. I will
               neither interfere with her right nor transfer the ownership
               of this property. Hence this Pativarik Vayawastha Patra
               i.e. family settlement has been scribed, dated 8December,
               1966."                            .

F       It further appears that after executing the said deed Mahabir
  Prasad informed the tenants concerned to make payment of rent to
  Smt. Sulochna Devi in terms of.the aforesaid deed and the tenants
  started paying rent accordingly. Mahabir Prasad, however, subsequen-
  tly executed a deed of cancellation dated 3rd November, 1970. This
  deed too was registered and Mahabir Prasad thereby purported to
G cancel the deed dated 8th December, 1966 for reasons stated therein.
  In this deed Mahabir Prasad inter alia stated that by the deed dated 8th
  December, 1966 written in favour of Sanjeev Kumar alias Teetu and
  Rajeev Kumar alias Cookoo, guardian Smt. Sulochna Devi mother
  had been given the right to .realise rent and thai the deed of cancella-
  tion "debarred them from the right to realising the rent". The tenants
H were informed about the deed of cancellation also.
                 BUDHU MAL v. MAHABIR PRASAD [OJHA. J.]                   241

           Subsequently suits were instituted by Mahabir Prasad against the      A
    .appellants for recovery of arrears of rent etc. and their eviction from
    :the premises in their tenancy on the ground that notwithstanding being
    informed of the deed of cancellation they had not paid rent to him and
     were in arrears. One of the pleas raised in defence by the appellants
     was that the deed dated 8th December, 1966 could not be unilaterally
     cancelled by Mahabir Prasad by the subsequent deed dated 3rd                B
     November, 1970 and that the rent claimed by Mahabir Prasad to be in
     arrears had already been paid by them to Smt. Sulochna Devi. In other
     words, title of Mahabir Prasad to realise rent from the appellants was
     disputed by them. Smt. Sulochna Devi was also arrayed as a defendant
     in these suits. She seems .to have filed a written .statement acknowled-
     ing receipt of rent claimed by Mahabir Prasad as arrears from the           c
     appellants.

           The pleas raised by. the appellants in their defence did not find
    favour with the Judge, Small Causes in whose court the suits were filed
    and consequently the suits were decreed. The appellants filed revisions
    before the District Judge and on these revisions being dismissed the         D
    appellants filed further revisions before the High Court ·which too
    were dismissed. It is against these judgments of the High Court that
    these appeals have been preferred. With regard to the deed dated 8th
    December, 1966 it has been held that by the said deed only a permis-
'   sion had been granted by Mahabir Prasad to Smt. Sulochna Devi. to
    realise rent and to maintain herself and her two children and that it did    E
    not amount to a transfer of immovable property in favour of Smt.
    Sulochna Devi. It has further been held that in this view of the matter
    Mahabir Prasad was competent to revoke the permission granted to
    Smt. Sulochna Devi. The other plea that the suit involved a question of
    title and consequently was not cognizable by a court of small causes
    also did not, as a consequence of the aforesaid finding, find favour         F
    with the courts below.

          It has been urged by learned counsel for the appellants ' that by
    the deed dated 8th December, 1966 the rigbt to rent and not only the
    right to realise the rent was transferred .and this rigbt was described in
    the deed by· saying "I give ihe benefits arising out of the abovesaid        G
    property". According to learned eounsel benefits arising out of
    immovable property themselves partook the nature of immovable
    property and the said deed having been acted upon, it was not open to
    Mahabir Prasad to unilaterally cancel the benefits conferred on Smt.
    SulochnaDevi and her sons, by the subsequent deed.
                                                                                 H
    242         SUPREME COURT REPORTS                 [1988] Supp. 2 S.C.R.

A          Learned counsel appearing for the landlord on the other hand
    urged that the courts below have rightly interpreted the deed dated 8th
    December, 1966 to be one which only granted the permission to realise
    rent and the plea raised by the tenants did not involve any question of
    title.

B         Having heard learned counsel for the parties we are of the
    opinion that on the facts of the instant case the provisions of Section 23
    of the Provincial $mall Cause Courts Act (hereinafter referred to as
    the Act) are clearly attracted and the plaints of the~ cases ought to
    have been returned for presentation to a court having jurisdiction to         " .
    determine the title. Section 23 reads as hereunder:
c               "23. Return of plaints in suits involving questions of title:

                (1) Notwithstanding anything in the foregoing portion of
                this Act, when the right of a· plaintiff and the relief claimed
                by him in a Court of Small Causes depend upon the proof
D               or disproof of a title to immovable property or other title
                which such a Court cannot finally determine, the Court
                may at any stage of the proceedings return the plaint to be
                presented to a Court having jurisdiction to determine the
                title.

E               (2) When a Court returns a plaint under sub-section (1), it
                shall comply with the provisions of the second paragraph of
                section 57 of the Code of Civil Procedure (14 of 1982) and
                make such order with respect to costs as it deems just and
                the Court shall, for the purposes of the Indian Limitation
                Act, 1877 ( 15 of 1877) be deemed to have been unable to
F               entertain the suit by reason of a cause of a nature like to
                that of defect of jurisdiction."

          With regard to the applicability of Section 23 aforesaid the High
    Court has taken the view that the said section gave a discretion to a
    court to return or not to return the plaint where a question of title is
G   raised and did not debar it from deciding the suit. If in a particular case
    the Judge, Small Causes did not exercise his discretion to return the
    plaint the said discretion could not be interfered with in a civil
    revision.

       It is true that Section 23 does not make it obligatory on the court
H of small causes to invariably return the plaint once a question of title is
                BUDHU MAL v. MAHABIR PRASAD [OJHA, J.]                   243

  raised by the tenant. It is also true that in a suit instituted by the
                                                                                A
  landlord against his tenant on the basis of contract of tenancy, a ques-
  tion of title could also incidentally be gone into and th«t any finding
  recorded by a Judge, Small Causes in this behalf could not be res
  judicata in a suit based on title. It cannot, however, be gainsaid that in
  enacting Section 23 the Legislature must have had in contemplation
  some cases in which the discretion to return the. plaint ought to be          B
  exercised in order to do complete justice between the parties. On the
  facts of the_ins_tant cases we feel that these are such cases 'in which ill
  order to do complete justice between the parties the plaints ought to
  have beeri returned for presentation to a court having jurisdiction to
  determine the title. In case the plea set up by the appellants that by the
  deed dated 8th December, 1966 the benefit arising out of immovable
  property which itself constituted immovable property was transferred          c
  and in pursuance of the information conveyed in this behalf by
  Mahabir Prasad to them the appellants started paying rent to Smt.
  Sulochna Devi and that the said deed could not be unilaterally cancel-
  led, iS accepted, it is likely not only to affect the title of Mahabir
  Prasad to realise rent from the appellants but will also have the effect      D
  of snapping even the relationship of landlord and tenant, between
  Mahabir Prasad 'and the appellants which could not be revived by the
  subsequent unilateral cancellation by Mahabir Prasad of the said deed
  dated. 8th December, 1966. In that event it may not be possible to treat
  the suits .filed by Mahabir Prasad against the appellants to be suits
  between landlord and tenant simpliciter based on contract of tenancy          E
  in which an issue of title was incidentally raised. If the suits.cannot be
  construed to be one between landlord and ·tenant they would not be
  cognizable by a court of small causes and it is for these reasons that we
  are of the opinion that these are such cases where the plaints ought to
, have ·been returr1ced for presentation to appropriate court so that none
  of the parties was prejudiced.                                                F

           In the result, both these appeals are allowed and the judgments
   and decrees of the courts below are set aside and the Judge, Small
   Causes is directed to return the plaints of these two cases for presenta-
   tion to the appropriate court as contemplated by Section 23 of the Act.
   The amount of rent which may have been deposited by the appellants           G
   in any of the courts below in these suits shall, however, not be
   refunded to the appellants and shall be disbursed in accordance with
   the decision of the appropriate civil court. In case the dispute about
   title is settled'by the parties amicably, the aforesaid amount of rent can
   be disbursed ii;i pursuance of such amicable settlement also. We
   further direct that the tenant-appellants shall, till the dispute ab.out     H
    244         SUPREME COURT REPORTS              · [1988] Supp. 2 S.CR.

A   title is decided or settled, deposit rent of
                                              I
                                                 the premises in their tenancy
    regularly as contemplated by sub-section (2) of Section 30 of the U.P.
    Urban Buildings (Regulation of Leiting, Rent and Eviction) Act,
     1972. Jn the circumstances of the case, the parties shall bear their own
    costs throughout.
B
    S.L.                                                    Appeals allowed.