Holding

A single default in rent payment amounts to a failure to pay rent regularly, making the landlord entitled to eject the tenant under Section 9(1)(ii).

Summary

Four tenants of agricultural land owned by Raj Kanta applied to purchase the land under Section 18 of the Punjab Security of Land Tenures Act, 1953 and paid the first instalment. They failed to pay the rent for Kharif 1961, which was due on 15 January 1962, and offered no sufficient cause. The landowner sought ejectment under Section 9(1)(ii) on the ground that the tenants failed to pay rent "regularly" without sufficient cause. Lower revenue courts dismissed the ejectment, but the Collector and the Financial Commissioner allowed it. The tenants obtained writ relief from the High Court, which held that a single default did not constitute a failure to pay rent regularly. The Supreme Court examined the meaning of "regularly" in the statute, held that it requires consistent, punctual payment without any break, and that even a single default triggers the ejectment provision. Consequently, the Court set aside the High Court judgment, restored the Collector’s ejectment order, and allowed the landowner’s appeals.

Issues considered

The term 'regularly' in Section 9(1)(ii) of the Punjab Security of Land Tenures Act, 1953 – does a single default in rent payment constitute a failure to pay rent regularly?
Whether the phrase 'without sufficient cause' requires the tenant to show cause for any default, including a single default.

Legislation cited

Punjab Security of Land Tenures Act, 1953s. 18, s. 9(1)(ii), s. Explanation to clause (iii)

Subjects

Punjab Security of Land Tenures Actregularlyejectmentrent defaultstatutory interpretationlandlord-tenant lawsingle defaultsufficient cause

Judgment

1006

A RAJ KANTA
v.
FINANCIAL COMMISSIONER, PUNJAB AND ANR.
May 7, 1980
[S. MURTAZA FAZAL ALI AND P. S. KAILASAM, JJ.]
B
Punjab Security nf Land Tenures Act, 1953, Section 9 intetpretation-
Words and Phrast.•s, tneaning of the term 'regularly' in Section 9(i) (if) of the
Act-Whether a 'single default' in payment of rent would attract tlie provi'sions
of Section 9(1) (ii).
Pera Ram, Ganga Ram, Bhago and Kalu Ram were the tenants of agricul-
tural land owned by Mrs. Raj Kanta, the appellant. The tenants made sepa-
rate ~pplications under section 18 of the Punjab Security of Land Tenures1 Act,
1953, on September 4, 1961 for purchasing the land held by them from the
land ovn1er. These applications werei allowed by the Assistant . Collector on·
October 31, 1961. Accordingly, the tenants deposited the first ins.talment m
Nove.mber 1961. Ultin1ately, however, the tCnants did not pay the rent of the
respective holdings for Kharif 1961. It is common ground that the last date
by which the rent for Kharif 1961 was payable by the tenants to the land
D owner \Vas January 15, 1962 and thatl the tenant did not pay the. rent and did
not show sufficient cause for the same. Jn view of the default, the land owner
filed separate applications under s. 9(1) (ii) of the Act on the ground that as
the tenants had failed to pay the rent regularly without sufficient cause, they
v;·e~e entitled to be ejected by the land owner. The applications for ejectment
\ve!e, hov;·ever, dismissed.. but on appeal the Collector allowed the appeal:s by his
order dated May 31, 1962. Second appeals preferred by the tenants in the
E ejectment proceedings were dismissed by an order dated 5-11-62 of the Com-
missioner and ultimately upheld by the Financial Commissioner by his Order
dated December 21, 1962.
Having failed before the Revenue courts~ the tenants-respondents filed a writ
petition in the High Court which was- heard by a single judge. But in the case
of Kalu Ram the Financial Commissioner allowed the petition and rejected the
F prayer for his ejectment by the land owner as a result of whlch the land owner
filed a writ petition in the High Court. All the petitions were consolidated I
and , heard together, by the single Judge who allowed the writ petition of the
tenants and quashed the order of the Financial Commissioner directing eject-
ment of the tenan~. The writ petition of the land owner against Kalu Rin1
r
'
was, however, disntlssed. Hence, the four appea{s by the land owner-appellant

G
to this Court. •
Allowing the appeals, the Court
HELD : I. The Punjab Security of Land .Tenures Act 1953 is a piece of
social legislation meant to ameliorate the lot ~ the tenants by conferring on
them the status of a permanent tenancy or the,rights to purchase the land on
payment of instalments. At the. same time, the landlords within a very limited
sphere have been assured protection in respect of the rights which they possess
H in the ]and and have been given thei right to eject the tenants on specified
grounds which are contained in the various sub-clauses of section 9' of the Act.
Sub-Clause. (ii) is one such sub-clause. This right was absolute and could not
RAJ KANTA v. FINANCIAL COMMR· 1007

be curtailed by interpreting clause (ii) of section 9(1) of the Act through a A
process of twisting the law and doing' violence to the language of the section,
especially when it admits of no ambigoity. [1010 A-C, IOI! A-Bl

. )..._ Bhagiruth Ram Chand v. State of Punjab and Ors., A.I.R. 1954 Punjabi
167: referred to.
t 2. The word 'regular' which is derived from the word 'regula' which means
'rule', means in a regular manner, methodically, in due order and postulates a
state of symmetry, consistency and uniformity. In other words, 'regular'
means a consistent course of conduct without any break or breach.
[1011 B, D, F & 1012 A]

Arab Bank v. Ross, [1952] 2 Q.B.D., 216; Hc11nmond v. London County
Council, [1931] Chancery 540; quoted with approval.
3. Although the Act is heavily loaded in favour of the rights of the tenants
c
so as to confer on them several important benefits and privileges yet as the
Act is confiscatory in nature, so far as the landlord is concerned, it should. be
strictly construed within the limited spherei .ina5mnch as the landlord is con-
ferred limited grounds on which ejectment is permissible under s. 9 of the Act
which appears to be a safety valve for the limited rights that are left with the
landlord under the Act. In order therefore to advance the object of the Act so D
as to assure the lirnited protection to the landlord, the language en1ployed in
the various clauses of s. 9 has to be construed so Mi to give real benefit to the
landlord within the limited range that the Section operates. [1012 D-F]
A correct interpretation of the plain language' and the words and phrases
used in clause (ii) of section 9(1) of the Act would be that the word 'regular'
connotes a. consistent course of conduct without any break or breach and the
'regular payment of rent' would mean that the rent should be paid punctnally
without 3.ny default or laxity. The Legislature clearly intended to use the
word 'regularly' to mean payment of rent in this manner.The Legislature
never contemplated that a single default could be condoned. The word 'regu-
larly' has been used immediately after the words 'fails to pay the rent' 3.nd is
followed by the words. "without sufficient cause", The Legislature clearly pro-

\
vided that if the tenant had committed a default Whether one, two or more, the
same could only be condoned if sufficient cause is shown and not otherwise.
[1012 A-Dll
•
-~ 4. The words "failure to pay rent regularly without sufficient cause'' in
Sertion 9 ( 1) (ii) of the Act cause postulate the !ollowiD..11 conditions :
'
' 1. there must be a failure on the part of the tenant to pay rent;
2. such failure must be to pay rent regularly, that isl to say, the rent G.
should be paid punctually consistently without any break or
breach;
1. if there is any default -ranging from one to several, the tenant
has got to show sufficient cause il1 his case is to be taken out of
the mischief of s. 9(1)(ii). [1012 F-H]
5. It i~ well settled that the Legislature does not waste words and every H
word that is used by it must be Presumed to have some significance. The func-
tion of the Court is 'jus deoere' not 'jus dare'. The Court cannot, therefore, in
1008 SUPREME COURT REPORTS (1980] 3 s.c.R.

A order to promote its social philosophy turn and twist the plain and unambi~
guous language of the law so as to ascribe to it a meaning different from the
one intended by the Legislature. The words 'without sufficient cause' clearly
indicate that in order to escape ejectment, the tenant must at least be regular
in payment of the rent and if he wants to get rid of the consequences of his ~..
default, he must prove sufficient cause. Reading the entire :5entence, the cumu-
lative etfect therof unmistakably is tha.t the Act includes even a single defauit
B and that is why instead of using the word 'default', the word 'regularly bas been
employ~d which is immediately followed by the words 'without sufficient cause·.
If the legislature intended that a single default would not entitle a landlord to
eject the tenant under the ACt, then it would ha<ve said so expressly either by
way of an explanation or otherwise in clause (ii) of s. 9(1) of the .Act.
[1013 C-1']

6. While the Explanation to section 9(1) of the Act takes care to define as.
c ro \Vhen a tenant would be deemed to be in arrears and fixes a period of two
months, indeed if the intention of the legislature W<h th'.l.t a single default in pay-
ment of rent could be condoned, it should have included this incident also in
the explanation. This provides, therefore, the most important intrinsic cir-
cumstance to support the interpretation of clause (ii) of section 9(1) of the Act~
[1014 A-B]
D CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION : Civil Appeals Nos. 1270 &
1317-1319 of 1970.
From the .Judgment and Order dated 5-2-1970 of the Punjab
and Harya·na High Court in L. P. A. Nos. 96-99 of 1966.
Kapil Sibal, J. B. Dadachanji and Shri Narain for the Appellant
E S. Manchanda, Mrs. Shobha Dikshit and Mrs. Urmila Kapoor,
for the Respo!ldents.
The Judgment of the Court was delivered by
FAZAL ALI, J.-These appeals by certificate are directed against
a Common judgment dated February 5, 1970 of the Punjab and
Haryana High Court by which a Letters 'Patent Appeal agai'nst a
F decision of the Single Judge was dismissed.
The facts of the case lie within a narrow compass and all the I
appeals involve a short point of law relating to the interpretation of -, '
s.9 of the Punjab Security of Land Tenures Act, 1953 (h~reinafter \
referred to as the 'Act'). · The history of the case has been detailed
G in the judgment of the High Court and it is not necessary for us to ,...
repeat the same. Shorn of unnecessary details the appeals aros_e out
of applications made by Pera Ram. Ganga Ram, Bhago and Kalu
Ram who were the tenants of agricultural land owned by Mrs. Raj
Kanta, the appellant in these appeals. The tenants made separate appli-
cations under s. 18 of the Act on September 4, 1961 for purchasing the
H . land held by them from Mrs. Raj Kanta (hereinafter called the 'land
owner'). These applications were allowed by the Assistant Collec-
tor on October 31, 1961. Accordingly. the tenants deposited the
RAJ KANTA v. FINANCIAL COMMR· (Fazal Ali, J.) 1009

first instalment in November 1961. Ultimately, however, the tenant~ A
did not pay the rent of the respective holdings for Kharif 1961. It
is common ground that the last date by which the rent for Kharif 1961
was payable by the tenants to the land owner was Janu"ry 15, 1962·
and that the tenant did not pay the rent and did not show sufficient
cause for the same. In view oI the default, the land owner filed sep-
arate applications under s.9 (1) (ii) of the Act on the ground that B
as the tenants had failed to pay the rent regularly without sufficient
cause, they were entitled to be ejected by the land owner. The app-
lications for ejectment were, however, dismissed but on appeal the
Collector allowed the appeals by his order dated May 31, 1962.
Second appeals preferred by the tenants in the ejectment proceedings
c
were dismissed by an order dated 5.11.62 of the Commissioner and
ultimately upheld by the Financial Commissioner by his Order dated
December 21, 1962.

Having failed before the Revenue courts, the tenants-respondents
filed a writ petition in the High Court which was heard by a Single
D
Judge. But in the case of Kalu Ram the Financial Commissioner
allowed the petition and rejected the prayer for his ejectment by the
land owner as a result of which the land owner filed ·a writ petition
· in the High Court. All the petitions were consolidated and heard
together, by the single Judge who allowed the writ petition of the
tenants and quashed the order of the Financial Commissioner direct-
y ing ejectment of the tenants. The writ petition of the land owner
E
against Kalu Ram was, however, dismissed. Hence, the four app-
1
eals by the land o'."'ner-appellant in this Conrt.
The only point that has been canvassed before us is a~ to whet-
her or not the High Court was right in interpreting s.9 of the Act by · F
holding that the term 'regularly' used in s.9 (1) (ii) would not include
a single default. While the Revenue courts had held that the mere
fact that the tenants made a single default in payment for the rent for
Kharif 1961 was sufficient to attract the penalty of ejectment envisa-
ged bys. 9(1) (ii) of the Act, the High Conrt took the view that on
a proper interpretation of the term 'regularly' it will appear that the G
legislature did not contemplate that ejectment should be ordered
straightaway even if a single default, though unexplained, is com-
mitted by the tenant which interpretation would run against the avo-
wed object of the legislation which was to advance and ameliorate
the lot of the tenants. The High Court had considered the matter al
very great length and placed a very wide interpretation on the term H
'regularly' so as not' to include within its ambit one single default.
It has also referred to a number of authorities and Dictionaries to
1010 SUPREME COURT REPORTS (1980] 3 S.C.ll.

A show that the word 'regularly' does not mean absolute symmetry.
Having gone through the reasons given by the High Court we are un-
able to agree with the view taken either by the single Judge or the
Division Bench of the High Court. There can be no doubt that the
Act is a piece of social legislation meant to ameliorate the lot of the
tenant,; and to further the rights of the tenants by conferring on them ,
B the status of a permanent tenancy or the rights to purchase tl)e land on
payment of instalments. At the same time, we cannot overlook the
fact that the landlords within ·a very limited sphere have been assu-
red protection in respect of the rights which they possess in the land
and have been given the right to eject the tenants on specified grounds
c which are contained in the various sub-clauses of s. 9 of the Act.
One such sub-clause is sub-clause (ii) which falls for interpre!'ation
in. the instant case. Section 9(1) as also clauses (i) and (ii) may
be extracted thus :-
"9. Liability of tenant to be ejected.-
I. Notwithstanding anything contained in any other law for
D the time being in force, no land-owner shall be competent to
eject a tenant except when such tenant-
(i) is a tenant on the area reserved under this Act or is a
tenant of a small land-owner; (or)
(ii) fails to pay rent regularly without sufficient cause;
E •
While interpreting the word 'regular! y' the High Court seems to
have overlooked two important circumstances. In the first place,
the word 'regularly' has been .used immediately after the phrase 'fails
to pay rent' and is followvd by the words 'without sufficient cause'.
F · Secondly, there "is nothing in the section to indicate that the legislature
intended to exclude one single default. The High Court attempted to
supply words to the section which are not there. In doing so it has I
failed to consider that i{ once the court was to lay down a particular
line of demarcation by extending the connotation of the word 'regular-
f ~
ly' to exclude one default, it is difficult to explain why the legislature
G contemplated only one default and not two or three for that matter.
In order to construe the plain language of s.9(1) (ii) which admits
of no ambiguity, it may be necessary to look to the object and the
purposes of the Act. In the case of Bhagirath Ram Chand v. State ~{
of Punjab & Ors.(') a full Bench of the Punjab & Haryana High Court
H held that the Preamble of the Act stated that it was intended to pro-
vide for the security of land tenure and other incidental matters. It
(I) A. I. R. 1954 Punjab 167.
RAJ KANTA v. FINANCIAL COMMR. (Fazal Ali, J.) 1011

is no doubt true that the main thrust of the provisions of the Act are
directed towards preventing the landlords from ejecting their tenants
except on the grounds mentioned in s.9; but at the same time, it cannot
be denied that the legislature undoubtedly provided ·some protection to
the landlords by conferring on them a limited right to eject their
tenants and within this limited sphere, the right was absolute end
could not b,e curtailed by interpreting clause (ii) ofs. 9(1) of the Act B
through a process of twisting the law and doing violance to the
language of the section. To begin with, the word 'regular' is derived
form the word 'regula' which means 'rule' and its first and legitimate
·signification, according to Webster, is 'conformable to a rule, or ag~
reeable to an established rule, law, or principle, to a prescribed mode.
In Words and Phrases (Vol. 36A, p.241) the word 'regular' has been c
defined as 'steady or uniform in course, practice or occurrence, etc.,
and implies conformity to a rule, standard, or pattern'. It is further
stated in the said Book that 'regular' means steady or uniform in
course, practice, or occurrence; not subject to unexplained or irrational
variation. The word 'regular' means in a regular manner, methodi-
cally, in due ordet. Similarly, Webster's New World Dictionary de- D
fines 'regular' as 'consistent or habitual in action, not changing, nru-
form, conforming to a standard or to a generally acccepted rule or
mode of conduct :
In the case of Arab Bank Ld. v. Ross(') while construing tbe word~
'complete and regular', Romer LJ observed as follows:- 'E
"It wold accordingly 'follow, in my judgment, in the pre-
sent case that the omission of the word "company" from the
indorsement would reasonably give rise to a doubt whether
in point of personality the payees and the indorsers were
necessarily the same; and if so the bills cannot, as I think,
\ F
be said to be "complete and regular" on their face."
··~
The view of the Judge clearly indicates that the word 'regular' postu-
lates a state of symmetry, consistency and uniformity. In Hammond
-v. London County Council(') while construing the tem1 "rcgularlv
employed", Farwell J. observed as follows:-
G
"It is of course a question of fact in each case whether
a man was regularly employed or not, but in this particular
case I think that the plaintiff, who was employed for the
five years and paid his wages day in and day out during
that period as a servant or officer of the defendants' prede-
cessors, was "regularly employed" during that period." B
(1) [1952] 2 Q. B. D. 216.
2) [l9 31] 1 Chancery 540.
1012 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [1980] 3 S.C.R.
A This interpretation also supports our view that the weird · 'regular'
means a consistent course of conduct without any break or breach.

On a consideration of the authorities mentioned above, it seems
to us that the legislature clearly intended to use the word 'regularly' ,
to mean payment of rent in a uniform and consistent manner with-
B
out any breach or default. The legislature never contemplated that
a single default could be condoned. This inference is fortified by
the words "without sufficient cause". In other words, the legislature
clearly provided that if the tenant had committed a default, whether
one, two or more, the same could only be condoned 'if sufficient
c cause is shown and not otherwi~e. If, however, we accept the inter-
pretation of the High Court, then the words "sufficient cause" becomes,
absolutely redundant.

On an overall consideration of the matter, a correct interpreta-
tion of the plain language and the words and phrases used in clause
D (ii) of s.9(1) of the Act seems to tis that the word 'regular' connotes
a consistent course of conduct without any break or breach and the
words 'regular payment of rent' mean that the rent should be pi!KI
punctually without any default or laxity. Although the Act is heavily
loaded in favour of the rights of the tenants so as to confer on them
several important benefits and privileges yet as the Act is confisca-
E tory in nature, so far as the landlord is concerned it should be strictly
construed within the limited sphere inasmuch as the landlord is con-
ferred limited grounds on which ejectment is permissible under s.9
of the Act which appears to be a safety valve for the limited rights
that are left with the landlord under the Act. In order therefore to
advance the object of the Act so as to assure tjlle llmited protection
F to the landlord, the language employed in the various clauses of s. 9
has to be construed so as to give real benefit to the landlord within
the lin1ited range that the section operates. In the instant case, The
words 'failure to pay rent regularly without sufficient cause' postulate
the following conditions : -
G (1) there must be a failure on the part of the tenant to pay
rent;
(2) such failure must be to pay rent regularly, ,that is tc say, ~t
the rent should be paid punctually consistently without '
any break or breach;
H l3) if there is any default ranging from one to several, the
tenant has got to show sufijcient cause if his case is to be
taken out of the mischief of s. 9 (1 )(ii).
RAJ KANTA v. FINANCIAL COMMR· (Fazal Ali, J.) 1013

We might add at the risk of repetition that the use of the words A
'without sufficient cause' clearly indicates that the intention of the
legislature was that in order to escape ejectment, the tenant must at
least be regular in payment of the rent and if he wants to get rid of
the conseqnences of his default, he must prove sufficient cause. If,
however, we construe the word 'regularly' as meaning at regular in-
tervals so as to include a single default, then the term 'without suffi- B
cient cause' becomes absolutely redundant. For instance, even if a
single default in the pajoment of the rent is committed by the tenant,
his case could be taken out of the ambit of clause (ii) of s. 9(1)
without insisting on the tenant to prove sufficient cause for this single
default. That would, therefore, make the words 'sufficient cause'
meaningless in such cases. It is well settled that the legislatnre does c
not waste words and every word that is used by it must be presumed
to have some significance. · The function of the Court, says Sir Fracis
Bacon, is "ius decere and not ;us dare" (to interpret the law and not
to make the law). The Court cannot, therefore, in order to promote
its social philosophy tnm and twist the plain and unambiguous Ian-· D
guage of the law so as to ascribe to it a meaning different from the
one intended by the legislature. We aw constrained to observe, with
due respect, that this is what the High Court seems to have done in
this case by aqopting a puerile and pedantic process of reasoning.
In these circumstances, reading the entire sentence, the cumulative
effect ·thereof umnistakably is that the Act includes even a single. E
default and that is why instead of using the word 'default' the word
'regularly' has been employed which js immediately followed by the
, words 'without sufficient cause'. Moreover, we might mention that
in the various Rent Acts passed in the States, ejectment is permissible
in some cases where there is a single default, in other cases where there
is more than one default and so on. If the legislature intended that a F
single default would not entitle a landlord to eject the tenant under the
I Act, then it would have said so expressly either by way .of an explana-
~ tion or otherwise in clause (ii) of s. 9(1) of ·the Act. Finally, we
cannot lose sight of the explanation used for the various clauses ot
s. 9 (1) which runs thus :
G
"Explanation.-For the purposes of clause (iii), ,,; tenant
shall be deemed to be in arrears of rent at the commence-
ment of this Act, only if the payment of arrears is not made
by the tenant within a period of two months from the date of
notice of the execution of decree or order, directing him
to p~y such arrears of rent." H
While the explanation takes care to define as to when a tenant
would be deemed to be in arrears and fixes a period cf two months,
1014 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [1980] 3 $.C.R.

A indeed if the intention of the legislature was that a single default in
payment of ~nt could be condoned, it should have included this inci-
dent also in the explanation. This provides, therefore, the most
important intrinsic circumstance to support the interpretation which
we have put on clause (ii) of s.9(1) of the Act and which invalidates
the reasons given by the High Court.
B
For the reasons given above, we are satisfied that the High Court
took an erroneous view of law in interpreting clause (ii) of s. 9(1)
of the Act as the tenants have been proved, in this case, to have com-
mitted default in the payment of rent for Kharif 1961, they must be
held to have failed to pay the rent regularly without sufficient cause
c as envisaged by clause (ii) and are, therefore, legally entitled to eject-
ment. The view taken by the High Court is• legally erroneous and can-
not be supported. In Civil Appeal No. 1319 of 1970, an objection was
taken by the appellant that the appeal had abated as the heirs of
respondent No. 1, Ganga Ram, were not brought on record. This
objection has been overruled and we have allowed substitution as per
D our separate order dated 28th April 1980. The result is that thei
appeals are allowed, the judgment of the High Court is set aside and
the order of the Collector directing ejectment of the tenants is restored.
The wrK petitions filed by tenants before the High Court stand dis-
missed and the one filed by the appellant against Kalu Ram stands
allowed. In the circumstances of the case, there will be no order as
E to costs.

S. R. A ppealJ' alwwed ..

I
,~

\