Holding

The tenant was a habitual defaulter and was in arrears of rent; the civil court order did not relieve him of his regular rent liability.

Summary

The appellant, a monthly tenant since 1961, was ordered by a civil court to deposit his rent with the court in installments pending the settlement of a dispute with a plaintiff. The landlord alleged that the tenant was in arrears of rent for 93 months amounting to Rs. 5,766 and that he was a habitual defaulter, seeking permission from the Rent Controller to evict. The tenant contended that the civil court order suspended his liability to pay rent to the landlord and that he was not a habitual defaulter. The Supreme Court held that paying rent in installments to the court did not absolve the tenant of his regular monthly liability and that the pattern of installment payments demonstrated repeated defaults, making him a habitual defaulter and in arrears. Consequently, the Court affirmed the Rent Controller's permission to issue a notice of eviction and dismissed the appeal.

Issues considered

Whether the tenant can be classified as a habitual defaulter under Clause 13(3)(ii) of the Central Provinces and Berar Letting of Houses and Rent Control Order, 1949.
Whether the tenant was in arrears of rent despite paying installments to the civil court.
Whether the civil court order directing payment of rent to the court suspended the landlord's right to collect rent and thereby negated the tenant's liability.

Subjects

rent controlevictionhabitual defaulterarrears of rentleasecivil court orderinterpretation of "habitual"Central Provinces and Berar Letting of Houses and Rent Control Order

Judgment

VIJAY AMBADAS DIWARE AND ORS. A
v.
BALKRISHNA WAMAN DANDE AND ANR.

-· MARCH 31, 2000

[SYED SHAH MOHAMMED QUADRI AND S.N. PHUKAN, JJ.] B

Rent Control and Eviction :

The Central Provinces and Baar utting of Houses and Rent Control
Order; 1949-Clause 13 Sub-clause (3) Items (i) & (ii)-Application under- c
On the ground that tenant was habitual defaulter and in an-ears of rent-Plea
that the tenant cannot be treated defaulter since rent was paid in Court as per
Civil Court's order-Rent paid in the court was neither regularly paid nor full
amount paid-Held, tenant was habitual defaulter and in arears of rent.

Words & Phrases-'Habit' & 'habitually'-Meaning of D

The appellant/tenant was directed by civil court iri a suit filed by G,
to deposit rent directly to the court regularly at the end of the month till
the amount to be recovered by G was fully satisfied. The appellant paid to
the court Rs. 4000 in four instalments. The landlord filed an application E
before Rent Controller, seeking permission to issue notice of eviction on
the tenant, alleging therein that the tenant, was in arrears of rent for 93
months, amounting to Rs. 5766 and that he was a habitual defaulter in
payment of rent. The tenant in his written statement pleaded that the rent
was to be paid as per the convenience of the tenant and he was neither a
F
habitual defaulter nor did he default in payment of rent; but he did not
deny that he was in arrears of rent. Rent Controller granted permission to
issue notice of eviction. The appeal against the order and thereafter the
writ petition filed by the appellant/tenant were dismissed.

In appeal to this court, the appellant contended that he was neither G
a habitual defaulter, nor was in arrears of rent, and that the non-payment
of rent to the landlord cannot be treated as default as the right to collect
rent by the landlord was suspended by the order of the Civil Court.

Dismissing the appeal, this Court H
833
834 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [2000] 2 S.C.R.
A HELD : 1. The manner of depositing rent in installments clearly
shows that the tenant repeatedly and continuously defaulted in payment
of rent and he was therefore, habitual defaulter. He was also in arrears of
rent as he did not pay the full amount of rent. (837-E]
2. The civil court did not restrain the tenant from his legal liability to ·""
B pay rent regularly at the end of the month and he was only directed
to deposit the rent in the court instead of paying to the landlord. Therefore,
the contention that the tenant had no legal liability to deposit rent regularly
in the court till the amount was fully satisfied, cannot be accepted. (837-C]
J. Jennons v. Allamal & Ors., [1997] 7 SCC 382, distinguished.
c
3. Expression 'habitual' would mean repeatedly or persistently and
implies a thread of continuity stringing together repeated acts. An isolated
default of rent would not mean that tenant was a habitual defaulter.
[836-G]
D Vijay Narain Singh v. State of Bihar & Ors., Affi (1984) SC 1334,
referred to.
Law Lexicon (Second Edition) by P. RamanathaAiyar, referred to.

CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION : Civil Appeal No. 3519 of
E 1997.

From the Judgment and Order dated 21.1.88 of the Bombay High
Court in C.W.P. No. 891 of 1988.

V.N. Ganpule, S. Bishwajeet, S.V. Sonawani and RC. Kohli for the
F Appellants.

Yashank Adhyaru and Mrs. Nandini Gore for the Respondents.

The Judgment of the Court was delivered by

PHUKAN, J. The landlord filed an application under Items (i) and
G (ii) of sub-clause (3) of Clause 13 of The Central Provinces and Berar Letting
of Houses and Rent Control Order, 1949 (for short the Order) before the
Controller which was allowed and the controller granted permission to the
landlord to serve the notice of eviction on the tenant. The appeal was
dismissed by the Resident Deputy Collector, Amravati and the writ petition
H filed by the tenant was also dismissed in limine.
VUAY AMBA DAS DIWARE v. B.W. DANDE [PHUKAN, J.] 1 835
The landlord pleaded before the controller that the tenant was a A
monthly tenant since 1961 and rent was to be paid on the first day of every
month according to English calendar. It was also pleaded that the tenant was
a habitual defaulter in payment of rent. The appellant-tenant pleaded before
the Controller that rent was lo be paid as per his convenience and he was
neither a habitual defaulter nor defaulted in payment of rent: Both the B
authorities below on facts held that it was a monthly tenancy and also came
to the finding that the tenant was a habitual defaulter and defaulted in
payment of rent. The present appeal is by the legal representatives of the
original tenant.
c
It has been urged before us that the tenant was neither a habitual
defaulter nor was in arrears of rent.

We quote below items (i) & (ii) of sub-clause(3) of Clause 13 of the
Order:-
D
"13. (1) - No landlord shall, except with the previous written
permission of the Controller;-

(a) - give notice to a tenant determining the lease or determine
the lease if the lease is expressed to be determinable at his option; or E

(3) If.after hearing the parties the Controller is satisfied:-

"(i) - that on the date of filing the application the tenant was in arrears
of rent for any aggregate period of three months and that he failed F
to deposit with the Controller the amount of arrears ordered to be
deposited by the Controller within such time as may be fixed by him;
or

(ii) - that the tenant is habitually in arrears with the rent: or G

(iii) ·············································································································
···············································································································
···············································································································
(ix) .................................................. .,............................................................
H
836 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [2000] 2 S:C.R.
A he shall grant the landlord pennission to give notice to detennine the
lease as required by sub-claused (1)."

Clause 13 of the Order prohibits a landlord from serving a notice for
_...,
eviction on the tenant except with the previous written pennission of the
Controller and such pennission can be given if the landlord can make out
B any one ground mentioned in the said Clause. In this appeaI grounds atleged
are item Nos. (i) and (ii) of sub-clause (3) of Clause 13 quoted above.

The word 'habitual' occurring in item (ii) have not been defined in the
Order.
•
c The meaning to the words "habit' and "habitually' as given in The
Law Lexicon (Second Edition) by P Ramanatha Aiyar' s is :

"Habit - Settled tendency or practice, mental constitution. The word
· habit implies a tendency or capacity resulting from the frequent
D repetition of the same. acts. The words by 'habit' and 'habituatly'
imply' frequent practice or use."

"Habitual - constant; customary; addicted to a specified habit."

This Court in Vijav Narain Singh v. State of Bihar & Ors., AIR. (1984)
E SC 1334, considered the question of habituaI criminat and in paragraph 31 the
expression "habituatly' was explained as follows:-

'The expression 'habitually' means 'repeatedly' or 'persistently'. It
implies a thread of continuity stringing together similar repetitive
acts. Repeated, persistent and similar, but not isolated, individual and
F dissimilar acts are necessary to justify an inference of
habit. ....................."

Therefore, the expression 'habitual' would mean repeatedly or persist-
ently and implies a thread of continuity stringing together similar repeated
acts. An isolated default of rent would not mean that tenant was a habitual
G
defaulter.

As directed by this Court the application and written statement filed
by the parties before, the Controller have been furnished. We find from the
pleadings that there was a civil suit filed by one Smt. Ganga Bai in which
H the tenant was a party and the tenant was directed to pay the rent directly
VIJAY AMBA DAS DIWARE v. B.W. DANDE [PHUKAN, J.] 837
to the court. Subsequently, tenant was informed by Smt. Ganga Bai that A
tenant could pay the rent directly to the landlord as the amount to be
recovered by her was fully satisfied.

It has been urged on behalf of the tenant-appellant that the right to
collect rent by the landlord was suspended by the above order of the civil
B
court and therefore, non-payment of rent by the tenant to the landlord cannot
be treated as default.

The civil court did not restrain the tenant from his legal liability to pay
rent regularly at the end of the month and he was only directed to deposit
the rent in the court instead of paying. to the landlord. We are. therefore, c
unable to accept the contention that the tenant. had no legal liability to
_deposit, rent regularly in the court till the amount was fully satisfied.

In the application before the Controller it was alleged by the landlord
that the tenant was in arrears of rent .from 1.4.76 to 31.12.83 for about 93 D
months amounting to Rs. 5.766/- and that the tenant deposited Rs. 4,000/-
in civil court in view of the above order by four installments leaving balance
of Rs. 1,766. In the written statement the above avennents have not been
denied but plea taken was that rent was to be paid as per the convenience
of the tenant which was rejected by 'both the auhorities below.
E

-- The above manner of depositing rent in installments clearly shows that
the tenant repeatedly and continuously defaulted in payment of rent and he
was, therefore, habitual defaulter. He was also in arrears of rent as he did
not pay the full amount of rent.
F
Our attention has been drawn to the decision of this Court in J.
Jermons v. Allammal and Others, [1999] 7 SCC 382. In that case the
landlord was served with a prohibitory order by the Tax Recovery Officer
for receiving rent and the tenant was also prohibited and restrained from
making payment of a certain debt and from that date the tenant stopped
G
payment of rent. This Court held that as the tenant was prohibited and
restrained from paving rent he did not commit willful default in payment of
rent but that is not so in the present appeal as the tenant was not prohibited
for making payment of rent.

For what has been stated above we hold that authorities below rightly H
838 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [2000] 2 S.C.R.
A held that t:he appellant-tenant not only defaulted in payment of rent but he
·-was a habitual defaulter.

In the result, the appeal has no merits and accordingly it is dismissed.
Parties bear their own costs.

B K.K.T. Appeal dismissed.